tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76946836944989853932018-05-24T05:32:03.320-07:00EphemeraKarloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.comBlogger305125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-26080471259615353112018-05-20T06:32:00.000-07:002018-05-20T06:32:30.167-07:00Small Town Zombie Chow - All Flesh Must Be EatenPerhaps it's just me, but as the heat intensifies with the onset of summer I feel the need for zombie goodness. I'm also a fan of Outside Xbox, which is how I came across this video:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z1uRV2vDPDs/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z1uRV2vDPDs?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />Don't feel obliged to watch the whole thing if you don't want to. I post it because it sparked a train of thought: why is it in these zombie games towns never look like towns?<br /><br />Sure, they have certain town-like attributes, but tell me truly: have you ever seen a small town in one of these games that doesn't look as if it were put together with Lego? People live here, work here, are born here, die here - and in a zombie apocalypse they're still dying here. Yet it's all oddly designed houses and suspiciously well-positioned radio towers as far as the eye can see. There's no sense of history, no real indication of what this place was like before the zoms came to zom everything up.<br /><br />So this time out I'm going to draw on <a href="http://www.edenstudios.net/allflesh.html">All Flesh Must Be Eaten</a> ruleset by Eden, probably the <a href="http://gamepedler.com/zombie-tabletop-rpg-games/">best zombie survival game in print</a>. My copy's the 2005 revised edition. I assume this is a game for Normals, in which the Basic Zombie (p146 main book) is the most common adversary. This means a player character with 50 build points can handle up to 10 zombies at a time. About 10% of the walking dead are improved versions of one kind or another, which get 10 extra Power points spent on them. That's the crunchy rule bit of this post.<br /><br />I'm also going to draw on this article about the <a href="https://www.shopkeep.com/blog/successful-business-ideas-for-small-towns">27 most successful small business ideas for small towns</a>. This is where I'm going to get my location inspiration. Finally I'm going to pick a town from <a href="https://www.southernliving.com/travel/georgia/beautiful-small-towns-in-georgia#jackson-beautiful-small-towns-in-georgia">this list of the prettiest small towns in Georgia</a>, because why the hell not. Never kill yourself with work when someone else has already done it for you. Besides, I'm told there's a popular zombie series set in Georgia.<br /><br />I'm reluctant to set this anywhere there's more than 4,000-odd people. That excludes a few towns on that list. So let's have a pop at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison,_Georgia">Madison, Georgia</a>. It even has a <a href="http://visitmadisonga.com/">useful tourism website</a>.<br /><br />Named after an American President and incorporated in 1809, this township is Georgia's largest historic district. It avoided destruction during Sherman's march as one of its residents was a prominent pro-Union politician. This meant its antebellum plantations and homes survive in remarkable condition, luring tourists by the thousand.<br /><br />This is a fictional version of Madison so let's not call it that. Let's call it Monroe, after Madison's successor. What's it like there? Well, Monroe has:<br /><ul><li>art galleries</li><li>museums</li><li>antebellum architecture</li><li>fancy restaurants &amp; bars</li><li>Civil War memorabilia, including a statue donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.</li><li>a farmers' market</li><li>antique shops</li></ul><div>Plus other locations to be detailed. Already you should be getting a picture of Monroe, Georgia. You could probably name some of the streets if you tried, and some of the kinds of homebrew you can find on tap in the bar. </div><div><br /></div><div>OK, time to add the zombies.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not going to get too detailed here. There was an outbreak. It went about as well as you might expect. We are now two months in. Initial attempts at quarantine failed miserably, as did most federal and state bodies. While there probably is a federal or military presence somewhere, it's nowhere near Monroe. There is no state-wide power grid, but there are still plenty of generators and fuel for same. Communication is spotty, and almost entirely radio-based. Some landline telephones work, none of the mobile phones do. The internet is offline for good.</div><div><br /></div><div>Human population of Monroe has shrunk to about 10% of pre-apocalypse numbers, split 50/50 between locals and non-locals. Assuming a pre-apocalypse count of 4,000, that means there are 400 people left alive scattered across a mostly rural or historic area something like 24 sq. km. large. Further assume that 10% of that 400 were in positions of some authority before this happened. State police, former members of a Federal organization like the CDC, local politicians - anyone who might reasonably be expected to lead and organize people.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Now we come to those 27 small business ideas. I'm not going to go through all 27. That would break my brain and yours. However I am going to pick six, and see what a zombie apocalypse might do to them.</div><div><br /></div><div><u><i>Coffee Shop &amp; Bar</i></u>: Before the apocalypse this place served coffee during the day and liquor after 4pm.<span style="color: red;"> <b>Warm Discussions</b><span style="color: black;"> is near the farmer's market, just off the corner of Plum Street and S Main. A fire in the business next door shortly after the outbreak damaged the exterior, but the walls and roof are still sound - it's mostly smoke damage. Décor: exposed brick, brass &amp; leather finishing. Location can be secured if the following entry points are dealt with: broken window front, main entrance, fire exit. Partially scavenged. Food &amp; liquor on site in small quantities. Two Molotov cocktails on site. High velocity handgun on site with a dozen rounds. Location <u>overrun</u> by (Z=PCx5) basics plus one special with The Lunge, Teeth.</span></span></div><div></div><div><i><u>Bakery</u></i>:<span style="color: red;"><b> Born and Bread in Monroe</b></span><span style="color: black;"> is a 1920s brick build on James Avenue within sight of Centennial Park. A firefight shattered most of the front windows but they have been boarded up. Bullet marks pock the exterior. Décor: glass, art deco, tile. Location has been secured. Location <u>occupied</u> by four survivors including one soldier, leader of the group. Food and liquor on site. Small stash of medicine on site. Three firearms, over a hundred rounds total, and three clubs on site. Group attitude: unwilling to trade unless materials to fix their radio are on offer.&nbsp;</span></div><div><b></b><span style="color: black;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><i><u>Food Truck</u></i>:<span style="color: red;"><b> The Gourmet Machine</b></span><span style="color: black;"><b> </b>specialized in BBQ with its signature Satan's Surprise mustard sauce. A firefight blew out its two front tires and it hit a wall on Bacon Street. If the tires were replaced the truck is in fair working condition and could be driven away. It would need further repair, but nothing too serious. Style: black &amp; flame red exterior. Site has been secured, but it's a food truck - breaking in is not difficult. Location <u>occupied</u> by former CDC scientist, who is using it as a temporary base of operations after her last safe house was destroyed. Food on site, including plenty of Satan's Surprise. CDC medical equipment (travel bag) on site. One handgun and twelve rounds of ammunition on site. Survivor attitude: grateful for any assistance. Prefers authority figures.</span></div><div><b></b><span style="color: black;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div><div><i><u>Flower Shop</u></i>: After all, it worked so well for Silent Hill.<span style="color: red;"><b> Pansy Petal</b></span><span style="color: black;"> was a family business run at the same location for over 15 years. The ground floor has been completely abandoned; there are survivors on the roof, growing vegetables. Décor: 90s chic, with a thick overlay of zombie destruction. Ground floor overrun by (Z=PCx4) basics. There is a means of getting up to the roof, but not through the flower shop; it can be done by going through the building next door. Food on site. Small supply of medicine on site. Location <u>occupied</u> by two survivors trying not to draw attention to themselves. One baseball bat on site. Survivor attitude: grateful for any assistance.</span></div><div><b></b><span style="color: red;"><b></b></span><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></div><div><i><u>Bowling Alley</u></i>:<span style="color: red;"><b> Splittsville</b></span><span style="color: black;"> is a 50s theme alley with vintage jukebox and pinball on site. The alley has been boarded up and is obviously being defended; it has working security cameras and a radio antennae on the roof. Décor: Happy Days, right down to signed posters and Fonzie for President chotchke. Food and liquor on site. Medicine on site. Power supply from portable generator runs security cameras &amp; electric traps on the main doors. Location<u> occupied</u> by half a dozen survivors three of whom are cops. Two shotguns on site, 50 rounds. Three heavy handguns on site, 80 rounds. SMG on site, 50 rounds. Sword on site. Clubs on site. Group attitude: unwilling to cooperate, feels that its supplies are just enough to keep group safe without taking risks. Prepared to steal from others.</span></div><div><b></b><span style="color: red;"><b></b></span><span style="color: black;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div><i><u>Pet Grooming and Boarding</u></i>:<span style="color: red;"><b> Bark and Buzz Spa &amp; Board</b></span><span style="color: black;"> is a very new business that, had the apocalypse not intervened, was due for Chapter 11 by the beginning of the next financial year. Décor: cheap and desperate. Paint, carpet, equipment all lowest possible standard. Lots of pet toys. Food on site, so long as you like eating dog chow. Radio on site. Pedal bike on site. Location <u>overrun</u>&nbsp; by (Z=PCx7) basics plus one, the former owner, with Animal Cunning &amp; Long-Term Memory.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>So what did I do, exactly?</div><div><br /></div><div>First, I picked a real-world location and copied some of its characteristics. This gives Monroe a lived-in feel. Then I borrowed some business ideas from a small business website. That gave me potential locations and some cues as to what those locations might be like. Then I searched online with terms like 'pet grooming store names' or 'bakery names'. There's any number of marketing sites out there which do this sort of thing all day long. After that I pencil in a few details about the occupants and the kind of gear that might be found on site. Nothing fancy. The folks at Splittsville might be major antagonists, or bumps in the road - no way to tell until the game starts and the players add their own flavor. For all I know the CDC researcher might end up the supreme villain. Or it might be one of those games where the actual antagonist is the situation, and the only thing the characters have to do is survive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy!</div>Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-57820526640511315252018-05-13T05:17:00.000-07:002018-05-13T05:17:09.216-07:00Murder on a Cruise Ship: A Photographer's LawsuitIn July 2017&nbsp;Kristy Manzanares, 39, was found dead in her Princess Cruise Lines cruise ship cabin. Her husband was arrested and charged with murder; he's awaiting trial in Alaska in <a href="http://juneauempire.com/local/news/2017-11-29/cruise-ship-murder-trial-pushed-back-november-2018">November 2018</a>, since the crime took place in Alaskan waters. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cTaUqc7mTfg/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cTaUqc7mTfg?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br /><br />That's not what I'm going to talk about. This post is about <a href="http://bernews.com/2018/02/crew-member-sues-following-murder-photos/">what happened next</a>.<br /><br />As part of the on-board investigation, one of the cruise ship's security detail demanded that a ship's photographer make record of the crime scene. Jean Luc Van Wyk, who only signed on to take happy snaps of smiling families, was directed to take 100 photos of the very bloody cabin where a woman had been beaten to death. [Pre-trial discovery indicates 541 pictures in total, which suggests Van Wyck didn't take them all.] The security agent told Van Wyk what to shoot, and not to shoot. I'm guessing Van Wyk objected, given what happens next, and the security agent told him to shut up and get on with it.<br /><br />Van Wyk has filed a lawsuit for&nbsp;damages alleging post-traumatic stress, making claims of Jones Act negligence, general maritime law negligence, maintenance and&nbsp;cure, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional&nbsp;distress. He wasn't up for photographing bloody crime scenes, and I for one don't blame him; it's hardly the sort of thing he expected to be asked to do. He must have been wondering, all the while he's snapping blood spatter, whether earlier in the cruise he'd caught some candids of Ms.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Manzanares in happier, pre-murder times.</span> <br /><br />He filed that claim in a California court and the ship is Bermuda registry, so the cruise line's holding him to an agreement he signed on taking up the job: any and all disputes are to be arbitrated in Bermuda. Van Wyk would prefer to fight the claim in a California court, since he'd get more damages if he won a court case in California.<br /><br />The latest word, as far as I can determine, is that a California judge told Van Wyk to go to arbitration.<br /><br />Initial thoughts: why the hell the security guy didn't just borrow a camera and take his own photos? It's not as if Van Wyk had specialist forensic training; he's a happy snaps, let's-all-make-nice-for-the-camera shutterbug. The guard's shaky-cam couldn't have been any worse than Van Wyk's shaky-cam.<br /><br />So what happens next to the security agent who caused all this mess? It's the one bit of the story I really want to know more about. Though I suppose if the cruise line is going to hang him from the yardarm it'll do it after the Van Wyk business settles, not before. Doing it before might look like an admission of guilt.<br /><br />I see that according to <a href="https://www.securityguard-license.org/articles/cruise-ship-security-officer.html">this piece about security guard licensing</a> the requirements for security personnel aboard a cruise ship may vary. Senior people will often, but not always, need to have law enforcement credentials. Your average guard need only be physically fit and proficient in English.<br /><br />It's odd: you seldom see cruise liners in <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-argh-boat-promises-something-for.html">gaming</a> or in mysteries any more. When liners were the only way to travel - broadly from the nineteenth century up till the jet age - there were any number of detective stories, romances, even ghost stories, set on liners. Charlie Chan had his murder cruise, Hercule Poirot set sail down the Nile, Wodehouse's idiots wooed and won, or lost, aboard queens of the sea. My favorite romantic comedy, The Lady Eve, begins with crooked gamblers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VEScwL3KGQ">aboard a cruise ship</a>. These days whether it's a movie or a game when you do see cruise liners it usually means <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saTBYjmhcok">everyone on board is dead</a>.<br /><br />Which is a pity, because setting a scene aboard an ocean liner provides a complex yet artificial setting that can be adapted to any eventuality. Do you want to stage an elaborate heist? Imagine trying to crack a safe inside one of the luxury cabins, with all those cameras everywhere and thousands of potential witnesses on-site. Do you want to have a scene at a ski resort without all the fuss of actually going to a ski resort? Not a problem: there's a cruise ship that does that - <a href="https://www.independent.ie/life/travel/cruise/taking-the-piste-royal-caribbean-announces-worlds-first-cruise-ship-with-ski-slope-35583022.html">or will do that</a>. Luxury bars? Check. Casinos? Check. Elaborate theatres, robot bartenders, scuba diving, escape rooms? Not a problem.<br /><br />Most of all, do you want an artificial setting where all the usual rules don't apply and the police presence is amateur hour at best? Cruise lines have you covered.<br /><br />That's it for this week!<br /><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-28373082842156936752018-05-06T08:52:00.000-07:002018-05-06T08:52:30.237-07:00Forgotten London: The Tyburn Tree (London)This post inspired by the YouTube channel Plainly Difficult.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HY-xhhG8s3g/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HY-xhhG8s3g?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />So how can this be gamified?<br /><br />There are a few things that can be played with:<br /><ul><li>The gallows themselves.</li><li>The location of the gallows.</li><li>The artifacts associated with the hangings eg broadsheets.</li><li>The psychic impact of the event.</li></ul><div>The gallows are a folkloric gold mine. Most people with any interest in horror folklore know about the Hand of Glory, and how it can be used by sorcerers. The condemned on the way to the gallows were especially prized for their curative hands, both before and after the event. There would always be a congregation of sufferers gathered at the three-legged tree hoping for a stroke from the soon-to-be departed, and the hangman could often be bribed to let the chronically ill have a few minutes with the corpse after its last jig was done.</div><div><br /></div><div>However it wasn't just the hands that were valuable. The gallows themselves were magically potent. Plainly Difficult notes that the permanent gallows Tyburn is famous for were eventually taken down because of persistent vandalism. People were taking great chunks out of the gallows because they believed the wood itself was magical after being watered with the blood of the condemned, a theme that recurs again and again in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy5DPLyPUn0">ghost stories</a>. The wood could cure ague, toothache, and bring luck at cards.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>So, a story seed:</div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>John Rann's Chair</u></i> A pub in East London claims to have an antique chair made from wood taken from the gallows that took the life of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rann">Sixteen String Jack</a>, hung in 1774 for his many crimes. It's said the chair was originally made at the instruction of one of London's most prominent gamblers, Samuel William Rowlinson, a regular at notorious gambling club Brook's. Rowlinson is supposed to have died of a heart attack while playing Hazard at Brook's. Two nights ago a pub regular died sitting in that chair while playing cards, and there's been talk of a curse. What's going on?&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>The location of Tyburn Tree is slightly in doubt. It's popularly supposed to be at the junction of Oxford Street, Edgeware Road and Bayswater Road, there's reason to think it might actually have been at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connaught_Square">Connaught Square</a>.&nbsp; This Georgian landmark is very exclusive, and has a private shared garden park in which a party is held each year.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>So, a story seed:</div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>The Unwelcome Corpse</u></i> Each year, the night before the party, the heads of each Connaught Square household gather for a quiet ritual at which they 'hang' a corpse - usually a dummy, though in the early days it's said they obtained their corpses from medical schools - with the intent of keeping Tyburn Tree quiet for another year. This ritual has been going on for longer than anyone can remember, and deadly secrecy is essential since some of the country's most important citizens live at Connaught Square. They couldn't afford the scandal. However this year Connaught Square was horrified to find an actual corpse strangled at the very spot their ritual was to be carried out. Nobody knows who did it, or who the body belongs to. Can this scandal be hushed up? How did this happen, and why?</div><div><br /></div><div>Bookhounds of London characters will be interested in the <a href="https://abeautifulbook.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/tyburn-road-london/">broadsheets</a>. Printed cheap and sold for peanuts, surviving copies of these scurrilous rags can be very valuable to collectors. Often the condemned sold her life story to the highest bidder, and had the satisfaction of seeing it sold at the same moment her limbs twitched for the last time. Or perhaps it was a poem, a song, some kind of political pamphlet - but whatever it was, there's bound to be a market for it. Even the lies are valuable, and Lord knows there were plenty of lies to go around. When in need of copy, broadsheet sellers plagiarized old sheets and added just enough new detail to make it seem as if the current condemned actually did all those things. Sex &amp; violence always sells, particularly when mixed with a healthy dose of punishment for the wicked.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>Provenance</u></i> A book scout fallen on hard times and sodden with drink keeps coming up with vintage Tyburn broadsheets, which sell for just enough to keep the scout sozzled. In almost every respect the sheets seem genuine; the right paper, subject material, historical details, even the ink. The one thing wrong about them is they seem too good. Nothing that's been around for two to three hundred years has any business being in this condition. It's as if they were printed yesterday. Where is the scout finding these broadsheets? Why does the scout keep going back to Tyburn?</div><div><br /></div><div>A Tyburn execution was a popular event. A famous one drew crowds to watch the condemned on his two mile procession to the Tyburn Tree. Wealthy spectators had their own stands built, or rented rooms along the route at one of the many inns or houses, while the poorer mob stood in the heat or rain - and in Britain rain is more likely. The trip to the gallows might take as long as three hours, as the condemned's passage was constantly interrupted. The prisoner often stopped at an inn to have one last drink - after all, a drunken prisoner was a compliant one, particularly if someone thought to slip drugs in his drink. Sometimes the prisoner would be pelted with rotten vegetables, eggs and other things, if they were unpopular or their crimes particularly heinous. More likable condemned would be better treated, but they all came to the same place in the end.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><i><u>Traffic Violations</u></i> The church of <a href="https://stgilesonline.org/history/">St Giles</a> has a traffic problem. Three times in the last three months there's been a serious accident in the street outside its gates, and each time the driver or passenger of the vehicle involved swore the accident happened because the road was slick with what seemed to be blood. Loose talk links the accidents with Tyburn dead buried in the churchyard, and some parishoners are getting hysterical. What's really causing these accidents? Is it to do with Tyburn, or something else? [Esoterrorists Keepers take note: this could be a scheme to weaken the Membrane.]</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for this week!</div>Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-35214149363135961522018-04-29T10:42:00.001-07:002018-04-29T10:42:59.770-07:00Grimoires - The Long Lost Friend (RPG materials)I've talked about <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2015/02/forgotten-lore-bookhounds-of-london.html">grimoires</a> before, those worm-eaten magical texts so often found on the bookshelves of the preternaturally deceased. In the last couple stories posted on <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user/posts?u=761734">patreon</a>, Martin's Beach cunning man and private enquiry agent Mowry refers to one particular grimoire: the Long Lost Friend. I thought I'd take a moment to talk about that book.<br /><br /><i>Der Freund in der Noth; oder, Gehime Sympathetische Wissenchaft</i> is known to have been published in 1793. No doubt its contents were liberally lifted from other occult works, but at this far remove it's difficult to tell where from. Like many other occult texts it claimed to draw on older secret knowledge.<br /><br /><i>The following secret remedies were taken from an old Spanish manuscript, which was found at an old hermit's who for over a hundred years lived in a cave in the dark valleys of the Graubünden Land, performing the region many wonderous works, among others totally expelling from the said region the monstrous dragon with four young which dwelt upon those fearsome mountains in Unterwalden</i>.<br /><br />So it's Spanish, which means it's from them there Foreign Parts with a very slight hint of South American/Aztec Wisdom. It comes from a mysterious place, and through its power great mystic works were possible. All good advertising needs your basic dragon or dragon-equivalent; nobody'd believe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFKQ7GflRkk">Tide got your whites the whitest </a>without a demonstration.<br /><br />What you actually got for your money was twenty-four pages of charms, medicinal remedies, and other magical workings. Since it was German it travelled across the ocean blue to America in the trunks and bags of German immigrants, and before long became in translation the Long Lost Friend. A collection of MYSTERIOUS &amp; INVALUABLE <b><u>ARTS AND REMEDIES</u></b> for MAN AS WELL AS ANIMALS. First printed in English in 1846 by Pennsylvania German bookmaker Hohman, copies of this extremely rare edition now sell for thousands of dollars. <br /><br />Of course this wasn't the only edition. Success breeds imitators, and before long there were several other Pennsylvania booksellers with their own versions of the Friend. One of the more ubiquitous is John George Holman's Pow-Wows, which went through many pulp printings in the early 20th century. There were some changes in content with each new edition, but at its core the Friend remained the book of charms it had been since 1793. Do you want to cure scurvy and sore throat? The Friend has a charm for that. Do you want to find water? The Friend will show you how.<br /><br />Its influence lasted well into the 20th century. In 1951 a Pennsylvania Mennonite couple were reported to the police for refusing to have their serious ill child treated by 'scientific' medicine. Their belief in faith healing came primarily from Hohman's Long Lost Friend. "If the Lord wants to heal the boy, He will heal him," said the father to State troopers. <br /><br />In 1928 a Pennsylvania murder was linked to the Friend. Farmer Nelson D. Rehmeyer was found beaten to death at his home, and it transpired that his killers had followed the advice of a pow wow man named John Blymyer. This cunning man had identified Rehmeyer as a witch whose hexes had bedeviled his killers. Rehmeyer happened to own a copy of the Long Lost Friend, and Blymyer knew about it. Blymyer told Rehmeyer's neighbors to break into Rehmeyer's house, steal his Friend and a lock of his hair, burn the book and bury the hair. That would break the curses they labored under. It all went spectacularly wrong, and in an attempt to cover up the killing the murderers tried to burn the corpse. They fled the scene without checking to make sure their cover-up worked. The fire went out, the murder scene was preserved intact, and the killers were brought to justice. Blymyer served twenty-five years in prison. After this, Pennsylvania authorities became extremely sensitive to hex magic cases, and the Friend got a reputation as a witch book.<br /><br />In game terms, books like the Long Lost Friend confer no real power as such - not when compared to the eldritch authority of the Cthulhu Mythos. However they do have occult status. Any self-respecting curse-breaker is bound to have a copy. Moreover as it has been through so many printings by so many different booksellers, a Keeper would be well within her rights to give it a few Mythos touches. No doubt those touches are borrowed from some other text, just as the original Friend borrows its ideas from mysterious Spanish mystics.<br /><br /><u>CoC 7th Ed:</u><br /><u><br /></u><i>The Long Lost Friend.</i> English translation of a German hex book, containing a collection of prayers, charms and medical advice. <b>SAN Loss</b>: 1/1D2. <b>Occult: </b>+4%. <i>Mythos variant: </i><b>SAN: </b>1/1D4+1. <b>CMI:</b> +2%. <b>CMF</b>: +4%. <b>MR</b>: 12<br /><br /><u>GUMSHOE:</u><br /><u><br /></u><i>The Long Lost Friend.</i> <b>Adds 2 to Occult rating</b>. Potential dedicated investigative pool <b>Oral History</b> (assumes players use it or phrases from it in conversation with old folks, particularly in Pennsylvania or anywhere there's a significant German population) or <b>Theology</b>. The Mythos version provides <b>1 Mythos</b>.<br /><u><i><b><br /></b></i></u>Whichever version you use, assume it confers no spells - or at least, no spells that work as advertised.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br />Source material provided by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grimoires-History-Magic-Owen-Davies/dp/0199590044">Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Owen Davies</a>.<br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-86158283385777953852018-04-22T12:29:00.000-07:002018-04-22T12:29:59.210-07:00Caveat EmptorYSDC's adaptation of my scenario The Many Deaths of Edward Bigsby is going really well, and people seem to like it. In honor of that, here's a very skeletal scenario for you about a cursed French commode.<br /><br />No, not that kind of commode.<br /><br />It's based in part on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Michelet">Jules Michelet</a>'s book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Satanism-Witchcraft-Classic-Medieval-Superstition/dp/080650059X">Witchcraft, Sorcery and Superstition</a></i>. Michelet is a very clever French raconteur and scholar who makes the stories he tells come alive - even if he has to sacrifice detachment and accuracy to do so. If you have any interest in this topic I urge you to seek it out. I have the Citadel Press translation which is why the title's slightly different.<br /><br /><br /><h1 style="margin: 16px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: large;">Caveat Emptor</span></h1><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">The Hook</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The investigators are asked to authenticate an allegedly cursed Louis Quinze commode, only to discover that the curse is all too real.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Louis Quinze: </u></i>A term used by antique dealers and art historians, this means that the item was made during the reign of Louis XV of France, or 1715 to 1730. This is sometimes called the Regency period. The grand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rocaille</i>stylings with their graceful curves and elements modeled on nature, an artistic rebellion against the heavy formal styles popular in Louis’ fathers time, are just beginning to come into fashion. </span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Commode:</u></i>The meaning is derived from the French, meaning convenient, or suitable. A cabinet or chest of drawers, set low so as to be below the dado rail, or the midpoint of the wall.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-style: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">The Awful Truth</span></span></span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">In 1726 the notorious witch and false nun Madeline was brought by her confessor and captor Picart to a dungeon in his home at Rouen. There she was to be starved to death, but she proved remarkably difficult to kill. Over time Picart relented, but only because she was still useful – he could bring her to trials as a so-called expert witness to accuse other witches. All the while he and the staff of his house sexually abused and tormented her, thinking her less than human. </span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">They grew so used to her that they seldom bothered locking her up. There was nowhere she could go. No family in Rouen would take her in, her family had renounced her, and to the wider world she was the notorious witch, baby-killer and false Bride of Christ. She had the run of Picart’s household.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Picart and his people failed to realize that whether or not she’d been a servant of dark powers before her incarceration she certainly was now. She had congress with strange creatures while locked in that cellar deep below ground, beings that advised her the best way to revenge herself on Picart. She scrawled her curses in blood on parchment stolen from Picart’s desk, and carefully concealed them in a false drawer of the commode. Then she waited for the curse to do its work.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">She hadn’t long to wait. Before the month was out Picart had vanished, stolen into the void by the Dimensional Shambler her curse had summoned, but not bound. As it wasn’t bound the creature could return again and again, so long as it remained within a short distance of the commode. It did. Within another month, two of Picart’s servants disappeared, and people began talking about a curse. </span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Over the years the Shambler emerged from beyond our dimension again and again. Sometimes it didn’t take a victim, but allowed itself to be seen. On other occasions it merely wounded its target, or left bloodstains and other marks behind for people to wonder at. Often its victim would simply vanish without a trace.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">These repeated visits began to damage the commode, in a dimensional sense. It no longer exists just in our world; it has a parallel existence across the void. It creates a hole in reality.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Holes allow passage in both directions.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">The Cursed Commode</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Date made: around 1710 to 1725</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Artist/Maker: attributed to the workshop of Pierre Couchois, Rouen.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Medium: Oak and Fir veneered with amaranth, bloodwood and warama; gilt-bronze mounts; marble top.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Dimensions: 85.7 cm by 131.4 cm by 58.4 cm.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">First known curse event: the disappearance and presumed death of Father Picart, Jesuit and witch-hunter, 1728.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Second known: The murder of banker Marius Harel and his entire family, eight people in all, 1789. Also known as the Night of Blood in some of the more lurid histories.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Third known: The disappearance of Deidra Van Stratten on her wedding night, leaving only her ring finger behind, 1865. </span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Fourth known: The strange decapitation of auctioneer Ralston Hayes, 1902.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">There are several disappearances also blamed on the curse, but without evidence it’s impossible to link any disappearance with the commode.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Opening Scene</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The investigators are asked to authenticate the commode by an important auctioneering firm.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Initial examination finds nothing untoward. The commode is authentic, and rather plain for the period. Its lurid history is its main attraction, otherwise an ordinary example of early Louis Quinze furnishing would attract little interest. </span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:</b> <span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>There are some signs of refurbishing, possibly in the early 18<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> Century, which warrant further investigation. Perhaps this isn’t an original piece; someone may have cobbled it together from period parts.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Confrontation: The Confession</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Soon after the investigators start their examination they discover mysterious writing appearing in every notebook, newspaper or similar. The writing only appears if the item is left in the same room as the commode, for any length of time. It’s in archaic French.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The writing disappears after several hours, but if the paper was torn or damaged those marks remain.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:<span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b>If translated, the writing proves to be a series of confessions. Whoever wrote them was in a very disturbed state of mind. The person confesses to congress with the Devil, witchcraft, baby murder and a hundred different things. Often the writer is so disturbed that whatever they use to write with breaks or tears through the paper. The name Picart appears again and again.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:<span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b>Whatever it is, it’s not invisible ink. Despite every test, once the writing vanishes it’s as if it was never there.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 48px; text-indent: -0.5in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue (hard):<span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b>The writer refers to herself as ‘unhappy Madeline’ once.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Confrontation: A Break-In – Or Is It?</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The contents of the room the commode is in have been moved by person or persons unknown, and they weren’t too careful when they did it. Some things are damaged or smashed beyond repair. The commode is untouched, and remains exactly where it was left.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:<span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b>Judging by what might be a footprint in the dust, whoever did this was very large. Possibly more than seven foot tall. How does someone that huge break in, and nobody sees a thing?</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Refurbished Or Not?</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The refurbishment actually was a concealment. The commode had a secret compartment in one of its upper cabinets covered by a false bottom, and someone went to a great deal of trouble to seal and conceal that false bottom so it couldn’t be detected or opened. Inside is a parchment written in blood. It appears to be a magical curse.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -69.75pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:<span style="margin: 0px;"> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; </span></b>Whoever went to all that trouble must have been a very clever artisan, probably someone in the mid to late 1700s. Nobody else would have had the skill, knowledge or materials.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -69.75pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:</b><span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The document is written in the same hand as the confessions.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -69.75pt;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue (hard):</b><span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>The document curses Father Picart “to eternal and unending torment in the realm &nbsp; beyond, where the Old Ones await.”</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Soft Spot</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The room where the commode is kept develops what can only be described as a soft spot. The walls feel spongy, the floor insubstantial, and if someone tilts their head at just the right angle they can see beyond the room to something, or somewhere, else. Potential Sanity/Stability loss.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue:<span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b>The sensation never lasts very long. When it happens, any reflective surface in the immediate area glows with a faint blue aura.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Research</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The investigators may chase up the Father Picart angle, or poor Madeline.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue (Picart): <span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></b>Father Picart was a confessor in a nunnery who fell in lust with one of the nuns. He wooed her and promised to marry her, and when she objected that they could not be wed in the sight of God he said they should be married with the Devil’s blessing. Later, when she was with child and the whole story was about to be revealed, to save his skin he portrayed himself as the heroic redeemer who discovered this witch nestled in the haven of Christ’s Brides. Her punishment, overseen by Picard himself, was starvation. She survived and he later used her as an expert witness to accuse other witches. He vanished, the first victim of the curse. The records don’t say what happened to her.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px 96px; text-indent: -1in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Clue (Mad):</b><span style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Madeline de Poitiers was from a rich family that had too many daughters, and being the youngest she was sent to the nunnery at the age of 12. There she met Father Picart, who seduced her before her fourteenth birthday. Though the records don’t say what happened to her after his disappearance, some legends say she appeared again and again in his house, an angry spirit wanting revenge.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Dimension Hopping</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The Shambler moves from its dimension to ours, but thanks to the curse the investigators can move to its realm. </span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">There things fold in on each other like paper dolls made of string. The investigators see things that are familiar to them – streets, houses, towns – yet they constantly shift away, always out of reach. Everything is seen through a blue filter, as if the inside of the investigator’s eyeballs had been painted over. Always the things they see are torn apart and remade, never the worse for wear, only to be shredded again and a new thing made.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">The one exception to this is the commode. It exists in every place they go in this new dimension. It’s not always the same size or shape, but it’s the same thing.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">A woman shouts obscenities somewhere nearby, yet it’s impossible to hear exactly what she’s saying.</span></div><br /><h2 style="margin: 2.66px 0px 0px;"><span style="color: #2e74b5; font-family: &quot;calibri light&quot;; font-size: medium;">Endgame</span></h2><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">If the investigators want to end the curse, they need Madeline’s help. It’s thanks to her power that this all started, and being trapped in the alternate dimension has one big advantage: our time doesn’t exist there. For her, it’s still 1726. If she does something here, it affects our world in 1726. Theoretically the investigators could put a stop to the curse before it starts, saving many lives. All they need to do is persuade Madeline to rescind her curse.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">This does mean that Father Picart will not die. The curse will end before he gets destroyed by the Shambler. The investigators will have to come up with a way in which Madeline can be persuaded to give up her vengeance.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">If the investigators don’t do this, they might try to destroy the commode. The Shambler will intervene forcefully before that happens. Moreover since it exists in alternate dimensions even if they do destroy it the commode can be replaced. All the Shambler has to do is ‘borrow’ one from an alternate dimension and move it here. This further weakens an already unstable dimensional rift, but why should the Shambler care?</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">Killing the Shambler stops it from coming to our dimension, but only for one day. Time doesn’t exist in its dimension, and neither does death. It can reform a body and return. A day’s grace is all the investigators get, and that only because a day will make them think they might have won.</span></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10.66px;"><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;">This concludes the scenario.</span></div><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: &quot;calibri&quot;;"></span>Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-56166948826150099472018-04-15T11:40:00.000-07:002018-04-15T11:40:08.544-07:00The Exorcist (NBA, Dracula Dossier)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YDGw1MTEe9k/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YDGw1MTEe9k?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />Exorcism is on the rise, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/06/exorcists-catholic-evangelical-church-child-abuse-new-inquisition">this Guardian piece</a>. The Vatican set up a new training scheme for would-be Von Sydows, claiming that reported instances of possession have grown exponentially in recent years. Evangelical churches have always been fond of exorcism, and there are independent exorcists that will bell, book &amp; candle you for less than the price of a second-hand car. Or so <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/business/21725320-catholic-church-has-left-big-gap-market-demand-exorcists-soaring-france">the Economist claims</a>. <br /><br />Of course, there are no reliable statistics for any of this. The people reporting a rise in demand for exorcism are the same people who want to hold more exorcisms. The evidence is anecdotal, but that's never stopped anyone from jumping to a conclusion before.<br /><br />Christianity has traditionally had a very uneasy relationship with the Devil, but not for the reason you might think. It's a power problem. If the Devil is capable of performing miracles, then what price God? In order to keep God at the top of the hierarchy, the Devil cannot perform miracles. His imps and minions can only perform natural acts, because if they could actually pull off supernatural stunts then the fine line between God and his opposite number gets blurrier than philosophers like. Instead they manipulate Man to achieve what seems to be miracles, but are not.<br /><br /><i>For the Dog of Hell is bound, </i>writes one philosopher, <i>neither can he operate on Forms, the Bodies of these, or their properties, unless he take to him the mind of Man as a co-operatives with him, under whose convents he bond-slaves by deceit, and binds them in a Covenant ... For he persuades those who have renounced Divine Grace, of whatsoever he will. and promiseth that he will perform Mischievous or wicked Acts, by strength or faculties which he feigneth to be natural or proper unto himself. For he snatcheth his Imps into the detestable adoration of a He-Goat, as if the government of all things stood in His power, and that he alone could confer the gift of the working of miracles.</i> <br /><br />The larger problem - and again, this was true in the medieval period as now - is that once you let the Devil in the door, there's no keeping him out. He's the original Special Pleading. There's no justifying him, but once you admit that he could be lurking in the shadows causing mayhem then there's no way to tell the difference between reality and the Devil's fantasy.<br /><br />Moreover an exorcist, particularly an amateur, is likely to look at almost any problem as a spiritual one requiring immediate spiritual intervention. Not, say, a problem of&nbsp; human fallibility, or a medical problem requiring medical assistance. The same is true of their petitioners. Very few people understand what exorcism is, but if it doesn't look like Netflix crossed with Hammer Horror and offer a convenient one-stop cure for their problem, they don't believe it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EpKTsDI_B-0/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EpKTsDI_B-0?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series about a female Deliverance cleric operating in Hertfordshire makes this point again and again: it is all too easy to become addicted to exorcism, to see it as a solution to problems it was never meant to handle. Merrily often has to discourage people from thinking of her job as an immediate cure, like calling out the plumber to deal with a leaky faucet.<br /><br />However from a role-playing POV, and with one eye on Pelgrane's <i>Night's Black Agents,</i> an exorcist player character has appeal. Moreover Merrily Watkins has a hint as to which way it should go, as the series is set near Hereford, the home of the SAS. Often a character in one of her mysteries turns out to be a former SAS now retired, or turned priest. You can see the appeal for a serving soldier; first-hand combat experience often either turns a person atheist, or devout. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscular_Christianity">Muscular Christianity</a> offers the willing a chance to fight spiritual problems with physical action. What more could a former special operations vet wish for?<br /><br />That said, designing a character template for this ought to take the civilian version into consideration, the occultist with a yen for theatrics and a PayPal account for donations. With that in mind, here's two options for an exorcist player character.<br /><br /><i><u>Exorcist (Former Soldier)</u></i><br /><br /><b>Investigative:&nbsp;</b> Intimidation 2, Military Science 1, Occult Studies 2, Outdoor Survival 1. <i>Possible alternates</i>: Urban Survival, Vampirology.<br /><br /><b>General:</b> Athletics or Shooting 10, Hand-to-Hand 4, Preparedness 4. <i>Possible alternates</i>: Sense Trouble, Weapons.<br /><br /><i><u>Exorcist (Enthusiastic Amateur)</u></i><br /><br /><b>Investigative: </b>Bullshit Detector 1<b>, </b>History 2, Occult Studies 2,&nbsp; Research 1.<i> Possible alternates:</i> Vampirology, Diagnosis, Reassurance<br /><br /><b>General:</b> Conceal 6, Shrink 6, Preparedness 6.<i> Possible alternates:</i> Filch (for those who like to take their theatrics one step too far).Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-90274545740999382392018-04-08T04:49:00.001-07:002018-04-08T04:49:47.079-07:00Cousin Jane (Lafcadio Hearn)I've been lucky enough to hold a copy of The Life &amp; Letters of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn">Lafcadio Hearn</a> in my hands. <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42312">Elizabeth Bisland</a>'s two volume collection is a remarkable piece of scholarship, and I'd recommend it to anyone with any interest in Hearn. Or even those that don't, because there's plenty here that can be data mined by anyone with an interest in horror.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cUT6de28Pmw/WsoAKROibgI/AAAAAAAAALc/nLvqVcTjEVoSd5voMoDqC1M-Anm-V54xQCLcBGAs/s1600/file-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="239" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cUT6de28Pmw/WsoAKROibgI/AAAAAAAAALc/nLvqVcTjEVoSd5voMoDqC1M-Anm-V54xQCLcBGAs/s320/file-1.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gpyCMoVfmOM/WsoATLwYrMI/AAAAAAAAALg/W2amviMHc8UyvgX1-D5oUbAk2LzIubI3QCLcBGAs/s1600/file.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1196" data-original-width="1600" height="239" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gpyCMoVfmOM/WsoATLwYrMI/AAAAAAAAALg/W2amviMHc8UyvgX1-D5oUbAk2LzIubI3QCLcBGAs/s320/file.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />Lafcadio was born in 1850 to an Irish father and Greek mother. The circumstances of his parents' marriage were straight out of a romance novel. Surgeon-Major 76th Foot Charles Bush Hearn was sent to the island of Cerigo in the late 1840s, where he met Rosa Cerigote. The two fell in love but her family did not approve, particularly since the British were an occupying force. They wanted nothing to do with the oppressors, and one night her brothers ambushed Hearn and stabbed him, leaving him for dead. Rosa found the Surgeon Major and concealed him in a barn, nursing him back to health. When he was well enough the pair eloped, and for a time knew happiness in Greece. Lafcadio, named for the island of his birth, Lefcada, was their second son. The first died soon after birth, and their third, James, was born three years later.<br /><br />When Britain ceded the Ionian Isles to Greece the family went back to Ireland, but this was fatal to the marriage. Rosa could not abide Ireland, and had no friends there. She became miserable, and after a time believed the Surgeon Major had fallen in love with someone else. The marriage was annulled, and Rosa fled back to Greece.<br /><br />This disruption broke the family, and Lafcadio was adopted by an aunt, Mrs. Brenane, a staunch Roman Catholic. Lafcadio moved to Wales, and never saw his father or brother again. He grew up with a morbid distrust of attachment, never making friends easily, constantly on the lookout for betrayal.<br /><br />I'm not going to summarize the book, but I do want to talk about an episode from Lafcadio's early history. It illustrates what I believe to be the one true rule of weird fiction: that the writer must take something that is normal in every respect, and twist it until it becomes unnatural.<br /><br />Young Hearn had a cheerless life in Mrs. Brenane's household. She was a stern woman, teaching him Roman Catholicism by rote. He understood nothing of religion, but could repeat prayers "only as a parrot might have done." A nervous child, he had been forbidden ghost stories and fairy tales and was under strict injunction not to talk about such things.<br /><br />One day a visitor arrived, Cousin Jane, a joyless young woman who wanted to become a nun, but did not. "I asked why," says Lafcadio, "I was told I was too young to understand." She seldom smiled, and seemed burdened by some secret grief.<br /><br />One day she discovered that Lafcadio, though nominally religious, had no real concept of God. This horrified her, and she lectured him with a fervor that says something about the brand of religion she adopted.<br /><br /><i>I do not remember all the rest of her words; I can recall with distinctness only the following:</i><br /><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>"and send you down to Hell to burn alive in fire for ever and ever! Think of it! - always burning, burning, burning! screaming and burning! screaming and burning! never to be saved from that pain of fire! You remember when you burned your finger at the lamp? Think of your whole body burning - always, always, always burning! - for ever and ever!"</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I can still see her face as in the instance of that utterance - the horror upon it, and the pain. Then she suddenly burst into tears and left the room.</i></div><div><br /></div><div><i>From that time I detested Cousin Jane, because she had made me unhappy in a new and irreparable way. I did not doubt what she had said; but I hated her for having said it - particularly for the hideous way she said it ... When she left us in the spring, I hoped that she would soon die - so that I might never see her face again.&nbsp;</i></div><div><i></i><i><br /></i></div><div><i>But I was fated to meet her again under strange circumstances. I am not sure whether it was in the latter part of the summer that I last saw her, or early in the autumn; I remember only that it was in the evening and that the weather was still pleasantly warm. The sun had set; but there was a clear twilight, full of soft colour; and in that twilight-time I happened to be on the lobby of the third floor - all by myself.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>I do not know why I had gone up there alone; perhaps I was looking for some toy. At all events I was standing in the lobby, close to the head of the stairs, when I noticed that the door of Cousin Jane's room seemed to be ajar. Then I saw it slowly opening. The fact surprised me because that door - the farthest one of three opening on the lobby - was usually locked. Almost at the same moment Cousin Jane herself, robed in her familiar black dress, came out of the room, and advanced towards me - but with her head turned upwards and sideways, as if she were looking for something on the lobby-wall, close to the ceiling. I cried out in astonishment, "Cousin Jane!" - but she did not seem to hear. She approached slowly, still with her head so thrown back that I could see nothing of her face above the chin: then she walked directly past me into the room nearest the stairway - a bedroom of which the door was always left open by day. Even as she passed I did not see her face - only her white throat and chin, and the gathered mass of her beautiful hair. Into the bedroom I ran after her, calling out, "Cousin Jane! Cousin Jane!" I saw her pass round the foot of a great four-pillared bed, as if to approach the window beyond it; and I followed her to that other side of the bed. Then, as if first aware of my presence, she turned; and I looked up, expecting to meet her smile ... She had no face. There was only a pale blur instead of a face. And even as I stared, the figure vanished. It did not fade; it simply ceased to be - like the shape of a flame blown out.</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Cousin Jane returned to the house at the beginning of the cold season. In the first few hours she made much of Lafcadio, buying him toys and good things to eat.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>I ought to have been grateful, if not happy. But the generous shame that her caresses had awakened was already gone; and that memory of which I could speak to no one - least of all to her - again darkened my thoughts. This Cousin Jane who was buying me toys, and smiling, and chatting, was only, perhaps, the husk of another Cousin Jane that had no face ... Before the brilliant shops, among the crowds of happy people, I had nothing to fear. But afterwards - after dark - might not the Inner disengage herself from the other, and leave her room, and glide to mine with chin upturned, as if staring at the ceiling?</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Cousin Jane took a turn for the worse the very next day, and did not come down to breakfast. She died of consumption soon after. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>I understood only that I had seen; and because I had seen I was afraid. And the memory of that seeing disturbed me more than ever, after the coffin of Cousin Jane had been carried away. The knowledge of her death had filled me, not with sorrow, but with terror. Once I had wished that she were dead. And that wish had been fulfilled - but the punishment was yet to come. Dim thoughts, dim fears - enormously older than the creed of Cousin Jane - awakened within me, as from some prenatal sleep - especially a horror of the dead as evil beings, hating mankind ... such horror exists in savage minds, accompanied by the vague notion that character is totally transformed or stripped by death - that those departed, who once caressed and smiled and loved, now menace and gibber and hate ... what power, I asked myself in dismay, could protect me from her visits? I had not yet ceased to believe in the God of Cousin Jane; but I doubted whether he would or could do anything for me. Moreover my creed had been greatly shaken by the suspicion that Cousin Jane had always lied. How often had she not assured me that I could not see ghosts or evil spirits! Yet the Thing that I had seen was assuredly her inside-self - the ghost of the goblin of her - and utterly evil. Evidently she hated me: she had lured me in a lonesome room for the sole purpose of making me hideously afraid ... And why had she hated me thus before she died? - was it because she knew that I hated her - that I wished her to die? Yet how did she know? - could the ghost of her see, through blood and flesh and bone, into the miserable little ghost of myself?</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Anyhow, she had lied ... perhaps everyone else had lied. Were all the people that I knew - the warm people, who walked and laughed in the light - so much afraid of the Things of the Night that they dared not tell the truth? To none of these questions I could find a reply. And there began for me a second period of black faith - a faith of unutterable horror, mingled with unutterable doubt.&nbsp;</i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Those who knew her history are dust ... How often have I tried to reproach myself for hating her. But even now in my heart a voice cries bitterly to the ghost of her: "Woe! woe! - thou didst destroy it - the beautiful world!"</i></div><div><i></i><i></i><i></i><i></i><i><br /></i></div><div>When I first decided to post this I thought I would use the story as the kernel for something of my own, perhaps a discussion about ghosts. I find I do not have the stomach for it. </div><div><br /></div><div>The child was just shy of six when this happened. Imagine living with that pressure cooker of a mind, stuffed full of gunpowder and set alight by a hysterical would-be nun, frightened out of your wits and nobody to talk to. I would not want Lafcadio's early life if you offered it me with a fortune in gold, and fame by the truckload.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Lafcadio's work has a long, long shadow. If you've played <a href="https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/44459/mountain-witch">The Mountain Witch RPG</a>, you've been playing in his world. If you've seen Kwaidan, you saw his stories.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XG5mvupo9Wc/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XG5mvupo9Wc?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I urge you to seek him out.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-65492753854028039802018-04-01T10:46:00.001-07:002018-04-01T10:46:32.075-07:00Dead Nodes (NBA)<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUjA_hcYzzI">Julian Assange</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/mar/28/julian-assange-internet-connection-ecuador-embassy-cut-off-wikileaks">made the papers</a> again this week, when the Ecuadorian government cut off his internet access. Assange made a written commitment not to use the Embassy's internet connection to say or do anything that might harm Ecuador's relationship with other countries. As a moderately intelligent three-year-old might have guessed, Assange couldn't keep his online mouth shut. This has happened before, when Assange's posts during the American 2016 election prompted a shutdown. His internet access was restored December that same year.<br /><br />I have some sympathy for the Ecuadorians. It can't be easy playing host to WikiLeaks' founder, but you do have to wonder what on earth the Ecuadorian Government thought would happen when it restored Assange's internet access.<br /><br />Question: what does NBA's Conspiracy do with dead nodes?<br /><br />In this context, Assange is the dead node. He's never going to have the same influence he enjoyed when WikiLeaks was at its height, in 2011 to 2015. He's the equivalent of an ageing rock star convinced that if he only loses a few pounds and cuts down on the booze he can still manage a full international tour. Those days are behind him. Moreover he's lost his freedom. Even if he somehow finagles a way out of the Embassy, wherever he goes now he's a marked man. That doesn't make him inconsequential. He's still a symbolic draw for many people, and WikiLeaks still exists. But the Assange that was is never coming back.<br /><br />Let's suppose the Conspiracy backs Assange, or someone very like him. That suggests a Node at National level at least, possibly Supranational depending on circumstances. Let's further suppose that, due to a combination of events, this Node becomes much less relevant to the Conspiracy because it has been compromised in some way. In Assange's case, it was the pressures that forced him to take refuge at the Embassy. What next?<br /><br />First, the obvious choice:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v7cEnaXU8Ec/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v7cEnaXU8Ec?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />This is not always the optimal choice. The information and skills the dead node possesses could still be of use, and it would be wasteful to break a valuable asset. If the Node is politically or socially visible, as Assange is, then it may be very unwise to terminate it. There's bound to be an official investigation, and in the case of someone like Assange, at least half a dozen unofficial ones. Every espionage agency in the Western world will want to know why Assange choked on his soup. The Heat mechanic doesn't apply to the Conspiracy, but if it did this would be a massive Heat gain.<br /><br />There is always demotion. In a sense, this is what has happened to Assange. He still has resources and time to work on the things that interest him, but he no longer has the influence he once enjoyed. This can work well, but only if the Node is willing to cooperate. It has to be content to slide into irrelevance. Assange clearly isn't interested in that option. There is always the risk that the Node will break ranks and spill secrets, or do something unfortunate in a desperate bid to regain lost status. This option works best if the Node has some weakness the Conspiracy can use to keep it quiet. A dependence on narcotics, or blood; a beloved family member; a secret. Anything that can keep the Node docile will be useful.<br /><br />However anything the Conspiracy needs can be used against it. Say the Agents discover that the only thing keeping Assange-lite obedient is his blood dependence. Given his location, it can't be easy smuggling in the special substances he requires. If the Agents were to starve Assange-lite for a few days by intercepting the courier, then he might go off the rails. This could have all kinds of interesting consequences for the Conspiracy. Imagine what might happen if the revealer of secrets started spilling the Conspiracy's hush-hush intel.<br /><br />The alternative is promotion. <a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/02/28/clever-lazy/">A saying</a> has been attributed to various members of the German high command, in the years between the World Wars. It goes like this:<br /><br /><i>I divide my officers into four classes as follows: the clever, the industrious, the lazy, and the stupid. Each officer always possess two of these qualities.</i><br /><br /><i>Those who are clever and industrious I appoint to the General Staff. Use under certain circumstances can be made of those who are stupid and lazy. The man who is clever and lazy qualifies for the highest leadership posts. He has the requisite nerves and the mental clarity for difficult decisions. But whoever is stupid and industrious must be got rid of, for he is too dangerous.</i><br /><br />A dead node has proved itself stupid. The question then is whether or not it is industrious. If so, then the Conspiracy will cut it loose. If lazy, then a case could be made for kicking it upstairs. The Conspiracy, like any bureaucracy, is bound to have a number of high echelon positions which boast grand titles but carry no significant authority. Head of Research, say, where all the real work is done by subordinates. Or Vice Chancellor in charge of records. Anything that gets the Node to a point where it has no power to directly affect, and therefore threaten, the day to day running of operations. Since it's lazy, it won't interfere with the smooth workings of whichever department it's promoted to. Everyone goes home happy.<br /><br />Assange-lite is too industrious to be dealt with this way.<br /><br />There's one other option: burn it.<br /><br />This is exactly what happens to player characters. Dumped and discredited by the agency that once supported them, the agents now wander the shadowy world of espionage on their own. The same can happen to Conspiracy assets. This works best on low-level Nodes, which don't have access to any important information. There's no point burning someone who can burn you back, after all. <br /><br />If desired, a variant of the Black Program Badass archetype could be used for a player character who was once in deep with the Conspiracy. The Director might consider giving the character extra bennies in exchange for a pre-existing psychological disorder - PTSD, say, in exchange for supernatural Network contacts. But be careful not to give away the store, or cripple a new character.<br /><br /> Renfields denied access to blood, dhampires and ferals who once had status, hackers and financiers and other lackeys - all can be flung aside. The Conspiracy will probably feed supernatural former assets to the hunters, or straight into a mincing machine, but Renfields and humans can be dealt with subtly. Make sure their criminal history is given to the right people, or stuff their hard drives full of kiddie porn and wrap them up in a big red ribbon for the authorities. Betray gangs to rival gangs, or let the hitman's enemies find out who's been carrying out all these assassinations. If death is the preferred option, make sure the body's found in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams">compromising circumstances</a>. Auto-erotic asphyxiation, say. That way any inconvenient last testament hidden on a hard drive is less credible when it surfaces. <br /><br />This would be a useful way of dealing with Assange-lite. Make sure there's enough evidence of wrongdoing to taint any evidence he might come up with, then let him go. Possibly dangle <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SedQhW-8FY0">the carrot of reinstatement</a> if he somehow redeems himself, but never be so foolish as to actually bring him back into the fold. What's done is done. Never look back.<br /><br />That's it for this week. Enjoy!Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-47604902860152340912018-03-25T05:39:00.000-07:002018-03-25T05:39:03.670-07:00Poisoned and Abandoned: Andrei Zheleznyakov (NBA)This week's post is inspired by the story of Russian bioweapons expert <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/22/andrei-zheleznyakov-soviet-scientist-poisoned-novichok">Andrei Zheleznyakov</a>, poisoned on the job and left to die.<br /><br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novichok_agent">Novichok</a>, aka 'newcomer,' is allegedly the most deadly nerve agent ever created. The novichok variants were created over a period from 1971 to 1993. Its design intent was to be capable of avoiding detection by the 1970s and 80s equipment available at the time, to circumvent NATO biohazard defensive equipment, to be safer to handle, and to avoid classification under the Chemical Weapons Convention. If it made the CWC list, novichok would be a controlled weapon, its stockpiles liable for destruction. It's said that the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skirpal in London is a novichok poisoning.<br /><br />In 1987&nbsp;Zheleznyakov was poisoned by novichok, while carrying out laboratory experiments. A vent malfunctioned, spewing a small amount of the bioagent.&nbsp;Zheleznyakov immediately knew he'd been poisoned. "It's got me," he told his workmates. A timely dose of atropine saved his life, but his body was ravaged. When he eventually died in 1993, he'd suffered cirrhosis, toxic hepatitis, nerve damage and epilepsy. <br /><br />Before dying he broke silence and gave extensive interviews, describing what had happened to him and what was likely to happen next. The material was published in 1992, a year before his death.<br /><br />It's likely he wasn't the only victim of novichok, but he's the only one known to have died of this bioagent. Other potential victims include a Soviet officer who was convinced that he'd been exposed to the agent deliberately, to see what would happen. There have been assassinations tentatively linked to novichok as well, but nothing conclusive.<br /><br />Assuming the Soviet officer's account is correct, the Russians aren't the only ones to test dangerous substances on their own people. MKULTRA famously dosed US Army biochemist Frank Olson with LSD, and Olson either committed suicide as a result or was murdered so he wouldn't talk - take your pick. In the 1940s and 50s the UK carried out radiation tests that were extremely hazardous for the military personnel involved, from<span style="color: #000120;"> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/dec/28/nuclear.world1">flying through the bomb cloud</a> to being ordered to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jan/22/nuclear-testing-british-servicemen-compensation">sit and wait for the bomb to go off</a>. In both cases the intent seems to have been to find out what close proximity to the blast would do to a human subject. The French did <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/16/france-soldiers-exposed-nuclear-radiation">much the same</a>. Ironically, we probably know more about Russian bioweapons research than we do about similar research in other countries, because there have been <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/489364a">so many leaks and books over the years</a>.&nbsp;</span><br /><div><span style="color: #000032;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #000050;">Taking a trip down memory lane, and assuming an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwk3KeTC7HI">Ultraviolet</a> game world, what does this mean for vampires and the spies who hunt them?</span></div><div><span style="color: navy;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #000012;">To begin with, it suggests a very nasty bane. Supernatural and Damned vampires might be immune to science, but it's a good bet nobody else is. Something that rots your organs and shreds your brain is going to do a number on anything reliant on human biology. To take the Perfecti from the main book as an example, the statues could care less, but their human proxies might die like flies. </span></div><div><span style="color: #000012;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #000012;">Of course, it's a bane with significant drawbacks. You can't really target a bioweapon; you just set it off and hope it does the job. If not handled carefully it could be as lethal to the assassin as the target, and any bystanders may get a fatal dose too. Collateral damage makes it a visible kill; Heat will go through the roof. It's not an instant kill, and the effects linger. In the aftermath of the&nbsp;<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_Skripal">Skirpal attack</a>, for example, three policemen who responded to the report were sent to hospital. One, DS Nick Bailey, was seriously ill for several days, and may be permanently affected. </span>Moreover it requires access to state of the art facilities and considerable technical expertise to manufacture, and in novichok's case has a short shelf life. Edom might be able to pull it off, and so might other government-sponsored agencies. Freelancers haven't a hope.</span></div><div><span style="color: #000018;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #000024;">On top of all that, it might not kill. Going back to the Perfecti, according to the main book their blood has been transformed to alien matter and a Perfecti's being is tuned to extradimensional frequencies. That suggests something like novichok might not kill them. The Perfecti could be sufficiently inhuman to survive an attack, but given they're at least partially reliant on human biology they will suffer damage. Perhaps permanent damage. A vampire whose brain has been destroyed or severely injured is still alive, but it's not much of a life. Even if the damage is temporary, the vampire will take time to recover - perhaps long enough for a hunter to do more permanent damage.</span></div><div><span style="color: #000036;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #000054;">Returning to Ultraviolet for a moment, one of the recurring themes of that series was blood contamination. The vampires were concerned about ways in which the blood supply could be poisoned, specifically through radiation. Given that, vampires might also be concerned about poisoning through other means - like a bioweapon.</span></div><div><span style="color: #000084;"><br /></span></div><div>S<span style="color: #000013;">uppose the Conspiracy wished to utilize a bioweapon in one of its schemes. <a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/?s=persephone">The Persephone Extraction</a> posits such a plot. For it to work as planned it would have to be an agent that did what it was supposed to do, but left the survivors with drinkable blood. If instead it killed off billions and left the survivors with undrinkable blood, that's a huge problem - the same problem that obsessed the undead in Ultraviolet. An issue like that can only be solved by rigorous testing. However tests sometimes go wrong, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/15/six-volunteers-in-hospital-after-unprecedented-accident-in-french-drug-trial">with catastrophic results</a>. An event like that could easily trigger the agents' involvement, or be the inciting incident for a campaign.</span></div><div><span style="color: #000019;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;">This post started with Andrei&nbsp;<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Zheleznyakov, so to conclude I'm going to develop a story seed based on him.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b><i>Old Ghosts:</i></b> According to your Network a supposedly dead Russian bioweapons expert has reappeared in Ukraine. Reports indicated he'd been exposed to a bioweapon in 1989, perhaps deliberately in a macabre test. He fell out with the authorities and published a tell-all interview before dying in 1993. Yet here he is in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mykolaiv">Mykolaiv</a>, a seaport. Perfect for transporting a cargo - a bioweapon, say? Or perhaps his target is one of Mykolaiv's many food manufacture and processing plants. Whatever his goal, it would be very interesting to find out how he's survived all these years. Perhaps the Conspiracy is involved.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>Variant</i>: The expert was vampirized in 1993, but it didn't take. The devastating effect of the bioweapon made his unlife a hell, and the Conspiracy recently decided to stop footing the bill for the medicine and special facilities he needs. This might be due to Node infighting, or lack of interest in the dusty recollections of a man who hasn't done any real work since Mikhail Gorbachev was in power. Now the expert's ready to spill his guts to anyone who'll help him, including the agents, but you can't defect from the Conspiracy.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i>Potential adversaries/interested parties: </i><u>former highly placed Russians</u> now living in the West, who want to know if the bioweapons expert knows anything about a spate of assassinations that might have involved the weapon he worked on. <u>Russia's Foreign Intelligence (SVR RF)</u>, which wants to know who this impostor is - after all, he's definitely dead. It has a certificate that says so. <u>Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service</u>, which wants to know what fresh hell this expert's been brewing on Ukrainian soil.&nbsp; If serious evidence of WMD production is made public, the <u>Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons</u>, <u>United Nations</u>, or <u>Biological Weapons Convention signatories</u> may get involved.</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #000025;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">That's it for this week. Enjoy!</span></span></div><div><i></i><i></i><i></i><br /></div>Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-45828619333072043962018-03-18T10:55:00.000-07:002018-03-18T10:55:28.592-07:00Not Quite Book Review Corner: Directorate S, Steve Coll (Night's Black Agents, Dracula Dossier)When I read Fyodr Dostoevski's <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idiot">The Idiot</a></i>, I became convinced that a character I'd met in the early chapters must have died, and I hadn't noticed. There was so much going on. No doubt there'd been a paragraph that said she'd caught the sniffles, drowned, or been eaten by hamsters, and I'd missed it. Steve Coll's <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Directorate-C-I-Americas-Afghanistan-Pakistan/dp/1594204586">Directorate S: The CIA and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a></i> is the second time I've had that idiotic feeling.<br /><br />The damn thing feels ten times longer than it is. That's not a complaint - it kept me absorbed from start to finish. <i>Directorate S</i> is a successor to Coll's Pulitzer Prize winner, <i>Ghost Wars,</i> which tells the CIA/Afghanistan story from the Soviet invasion in 1979 to September 11, 2001. In <i>Ghost Wars</i> Coll shows how CIA intelligence failures helped create the extremists that brought the Twin Towers down. <i>Directorate S </i>shows how a continued pattern of misunderstanding, political folly and wastage led to the bloody mess that is Afghanistan today. Coll won a Pulitzer for <i>Ghost Wars; </i>he's probably going to be a contender for a second one with <i>Directorate S</i>.<i>&nbsp;</i><br /><div><i><br /></i></div><div>It's just so sad. If Coll chewed off his fingers and howled at the moon every other page it would have felt appropriate, but he tackles the subject with remarkable restraint. It feels even more awful as a result, and makes the reader wonder what future horrors lie in store. If CIA support for the mujahedeen in the 1970s and 80s fostered the world in which planes flew into the Twin Towers, what fresh atrocity will be spawned by this nightmare?&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Coll">Steve Coll</a>, for those who don't know him, is a journalist of long standing who got his start at California Magazine. He went on to the Washington Post in 1985, and stayed there until 2004 before moving on to the New Yorker. Currently he writes on national security and foreign intelligence issues, and has eight non-fiction books to his credit as well as many articles.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>If you have any interest in modern history, intelligence issues, or the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, this is the book to read. So long as you can stomach a bellyful of tragedy, that is.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're a Night's Black Agents Director or have any interest in the Dracula Dossier, this should be on your shelf. Edom raises up Dracula specifically to combat Al-Qaeda, after all; the Director should know what Dracula's up against.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Just one story seed, taken from ch 35 <i>Coups d'Etat</i>:</div><div><br /></div><div>Edom discovers, thanks to a leak, that discontented Pakistani naval officers are planning to seize a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22P_Zulfiquar-class_frigate">frigate</a>. Armed with Land Attack Cruise Missiles with a potential nuclear payload, this rogue frigate could do tremendous damage if the attempt is successful. Edom doesn't know how many people are involved, but it does know that one of the naval cadets is due to attend a training course at HMNB Portsmouth in a week's time. Edom will use its vampire to control this cadet and persuade him to tell all he knows. </div><div><br /></div><div>If the characters are Edom, then the Agents are given operational authority: find out who's involved, and when the attack is to take place. They can't let Pakistan know what's going on, because they can't be sure whether elements within Pakistani intelligence are involved in the operation. If they succeed, a potential nuclear disaster is averted. Of course, the vampire under their control is a disaster waiting to happen ...</div><div><br /></div><div>If the characters are freelancers, then they're alerted or brought in when Edom's initial attempts raise red flags at Portsmouth. Its vampire managed to get away for a short time, and created some spawn before its recapture. Its Pakistani target is also Renfielded, and now the naval officer serves three masters - Pakistan, Al-Qaeda, and Dracula. Would Dracula like a frigate armed with nuclear weapons? &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for this week. Enjoy!</div><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-28530523695036721062018-03-11T10:31:00.000-07:002018-03-11T10:31:38.593-07:00Killer That Stalked New York - Diseases (GUMSHOE)We tend to think of biological weapons as a modern phenomenon, but in fact the tactic has a very long pedigree. During the American Civil War, for instance, Bermuda's horrified authorities quickly stepped in when it was discovered that a doctor, allegedly acting out of charity, was in fact collecting infected blankets and clothing from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_fever">Yellow Fever</a> victims, to be sent to the North in hopes of spreading the disease to Union soldiers. The threat of disease is often enough to provoke panic, and no disease was more threatening than smallpox, which is the major plot point of The Killer That Stalked New York.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uw6F9O9FGco/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uw6F9O9FGco?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />In this Noir thriller, Sheila Bennet is the unwitting Patient Zero who came back from Cuba with a fortune in diamonds, and death in her veins. It turns out that her boyfriend, who persuaded her to smuggle the stones, has been two-timing Sheila with her own sister. He's able to fool Sheila for a while, and steal the diamonds, but when she finds out, nothing will stop her tracking him down. Meanwhile the authorities discover that Sheila's infecting everyone she meets with smallpox, and desperately want to bring her in, but Sheila refuses to submit.<br /><br />It's not entirely clear why the authorities want Sheila. OK, she's infectious, but the end voiceover suggests they needed her for some other reason - as if she's the key to a vaccine, or has some vital evidence about where she contracted the disease. All that's a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkyUxfSOKbI">McGuffin</a>, really; the point is, she's important, so they have to chase her. <br /><br />Smallpox hasn't been a threat since its eradication in 1980, and it's becoming more and more difficult to understand, on an emotional level, the fear it once inspired. Intellectually we can look at its history, see its death count, and know how devastating it can be - but it's like trying to put yourself in the shoes of a soldier in the trenches of the Great War. Empathy only carries you so far; ultimately, you have to have been shot at to know what it truly is like to be shot at.<br /><br />First comes the fever, and vomiting. Then sores in the mouth, and painful skin rash. Over a period of days this rash becomes fluid-filled bumps, which will eventually scab over and leave scars - assuming you survive. Fatality can be as high as 75%, depending on severity of the rash distribution. The overall rate is closer to 30% fatality. Death tends to occur in ten to sixteen days, accompanied by acute organ failure. If you survive, you're scarred for life, and might also go blind.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zp11MCTmYkc/WqFt26hVKTI/AAAAAAAAALM/IWaKZ-PL3jIR86bJvYpAiXTQWsvmh0YBwCLcBGAs/s1600/800px-Child_with_Smallpox_Bangladesh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1219" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zp11MCTmYkc/WqFt26hVKTI/AAAAAAAAALM/IWaKZ-PL3jIR86bJvYpAiXTQWsvmh0YBwCLcBGAs/s320/800px-Child_with_Smallpox_Bangladesh.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Image taken from Wikipedia: Content Providers(s): CDC/James Hicks&nbsp;</div><br />Let's talk gamification.<br /><br />Given that Trail, Bookhounds and Dreamhounds are all set in the 1930s, it's reasonable to think that a character might have encountered, or contracted, the disease at some point in their careers. It could be an interesting twist, say, to an In The Blood drive - yes, it is in the blood, but because of a smallpox outbreak, not heredity.<br /><br />However let's take this one step further, and say that a smallpox scare threatens the characters' lives or livelihoods in some way. Let's further say that the Patient Zero is someone the characters know, or work with, or are responsible for. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-kW9IB-ZNE">George MacDonald Fraser</a> makes good use of this last tactic in his short McAuslan story, Fly Man, where his narrator Dando has to go chasing over Cairo for his soldiers, while at the same time keeping the smallpox story very, very quiet for fear of starting a panic. Of course, two of the most dangerous have decided to go AWOL, and are armed, just to add to the fun.<br /><br />'<i>You must go through every club, canteen, dance-hall and gin mill in the in-bounds area</i>,' says his superior, '<i>I want them all, you understand. No stragglers, nobody overlooked</i>.'<br /><br />Hilarity ensues.<br /><br />Bookhounds is particularly useful for this, since the players are likely to have employees or co-workers, but in theory this could happen to any group. Someone you know &amp; rely on has contracted smallpox, but either they don't know it yet, or they have other reasons for staying out of the authorities' reach. Your characters have to track down that person and somehow persuade them to come in from the cold - or the consequences could be dire.<br /><br />All this, of course, without considering the Mythos. It's likely that anything with a biological makeup can contract diseases, so something like a Fire Vampire is probably immune to smallpox, but a ghoul, or Deep One Hybrid, isn't. Tracking outbreaks of smallpox could be an unusual way of tracking the movements of a ghoul colony, but a potentially more interesting question is, what happens at the fever stage? Suppose, in the case of an as-yet undiscovered Hybrid or ghoul changeling, the smallpox causes uncontrollable mutations, or spontaneous outbreaks of Idiosyncratic Mythos magic, as per Bookhounds. Or the afflicted taps into the Mythos and starts babbling secrets which, under normal circumstances, the poor soul doesn't know. Nurses, relatives, carers, would all be bombarded with secrets tapped straight from Cthulhu's psychic backlash, with consequences too terrible to think about.<br /><br />This doesn't have to stay trapped in the 1930s. Even in the modern day there's the occasional scare, as with the retained stocks of the virus <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox_virus_retention_controversy">rediscovered in 2014, at an FDA storage facility in Bethesda</a>. Imagine what the Esoterrorists might do with just the mystic threat of a smallpox bioweapon, or what the Conspiracy might want with strange vials filled with what might be smallpox - or might be something else again. Particularly in a campaign where the vampires have a Mutant background, there may be any number of reasons why the Conspiracy is keenly interested in dusty records of bioweapons research long past. Is this smallpox, or is this the Vampire Genome deliberately mislabeled as smallpox?<br /><br />Finally, a Bookhounds scenario seed to speed you on your way:<br /><br />A book scout of your acquaintance has fallen ill, shortly after telling you about a tremendously valuable find. What at first is thought to be ordinary fever is soon discovered to be smallpox, and the authorities are knocking on the characters' door with instructions to inoculate everyone the book scout has come into contact with. It transpires that several other people have fallen ill with the same symptoms, but these people had no contact with the book scout. However they might have had contact with the book. Just what tome is this, and what dreadful secret does it carry within those pox-ridden pages?<br /><br />That's it for now. Enjoy!<br /><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-39655368222876747462018-03-04T08:19:00.001-08:002018-03-04T08:19:28.760-08:00Playing with Real Toys: Abandoned Orient Express Trains, Belgium (GUMSHOE Modern)There was a time when Orient Express meant luxury, mystery, and romance. Those days aren't quite gone, but the train in these pictures has seen better days. Abandoned somewhere in a Belgian train yard, these old carriages and locomotive have been quietly rusting away for many years. Lost and forgotten things have many stories to tell - so what can we do with this one?<br /><br />A quick note on ownership: the photos shown here were obtained via <a href="https://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2016/07/abandoned-orient-express-train-belgium/">Urban Ghosts</a> and the blog <a href="http://www.rebeccabathoryblog.com/urban-exploring-belgium-orient-express-train/">Rebecca Bathory</a>. I understand Urban Ghosts obtained at least some of its images from another user, blogging at <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/brrrphotography/14968296755/in/album-72157646210960989/">PreciousDecay</a>. To my knowledge, those are the original sources of the images.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wras-NG_CZc/Wpg7L2YMzCI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/U61uzWr5TJchXwe0I6zQkpG-eLVeCu7fgCLcBGAs/s1600/orient-express-1024x769.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wras-NG_CZc/Wpg7L2YMzCI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/U61uzWr5TJchXwe0I6zQkpG-eLVeCu7fgCLcBGAs/s320/orient-express-1024x769.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lZ5ziWsw-7I/Wpg7ZzZ4BeI/AAAAAAAAAKE/GNGlIOjWk7Mws3xYW2CmSwR_Q6CNqwW4gCLcBGAs/s1600/orient-express.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="971" data-original-width="1300" height="238" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lZ5ziWsw-7I/Wpg7ZzZ4BeI/AAAAAAAAAKE/GNGlIOjWk7Mws3xYW2CmSwR_Q6CNqwW4gCLcBGAs/s320/orient-express.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1qHqgBQFbD4/Wpg7oQZMKfI/AAAAAAAAAKM/NUubIkqAP14IDLYWX6v9gku4K8_a487AgCLcBGAs/s1600/Abandoned-Orient-Express-train-in-Belgium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1qHqgBQFbD4/Wpg7oQZMKfI/AAAAAAAAAKM/NUubIkqAP14IDLYWX6v9gku4K8_a487AgCLcBGAs/s320/Abandoned-Orient-Express-train-in-Belgium.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oO2rN2L00Is/Wpg7sxnOY9I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/TaX1MSiaHq8zd8045MeFmVIJDo5Glpq6QCLcBGAs/s1600/Abandoned-Orient-Express-train-in-Belgium-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="700" height="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oO2rN2L00Is/Wpg7sxnOY9I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/TaX1MSiaHq8zd8045MeFmVIJDo5Glpq6QCLcBGAs/s320/Abandoned-Orient-Express-train-in-Belgium-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QaM6yAILE-4/Wpg7xvbYdOI/AAAAAAAAAKY/OJ78xy5GTsswz7F_Xh0r5ZYN1an57F2aQCLcBGAs/s1600/Abandoned-Orient-Express-train-in-Belgium-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QaM6yAILE-4/Wpg7xvbYdOI/AAAAAAAAAKY/OJ78xy5GTsswz7F_Xh0r5ZYN1an57F2aQCLcBGAs/s320/Abandoned-Orient-Express-train-in-Belgium-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>For those who aren't familiar with Georges Nagelmackers' pride and joy, a brief history. </div><div><br /></div><div>The state of train travel in Europe during the Victorian era was lamentable. Functional, yes, but where was the style? The panache? Meanwhile, across the water, American George Mortimer Pullman was showing how it could be done: luxury travel, in a carriage fit for a king, not the knock-crack-smash in a wooden box that everyone had become used to.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>This inspired many innovators, including Belgian Georges Nagelmackers, who founded the Wagons-Lits Company in 1867. His dream was to create a train empire, luxury that traveled across the continent, and he was successful. You could start in London, end in Constantinople, and never lack for anything, whether it be fine dining, comfortable sleeping compartments, or congenial companionship. Each carriage had its own name, its own personality, decorated and fitted to the highest standards of the day. Every need was anticipated, and catered for, down to the least detail.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cnOJKk0i1tQ/WphCEn-50qI/AAAAAAAAAKs/4qGn1k31fiMUIRRb7hZv4azQ0kj-aBqvQCLcBGAs/s1600/Plan_de_vaisselle_CIWL%252C_%2528c%2529_wagons-lits_diffusion_paris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cnOJKk0i1tQ/WphCEn-50qI/AAAAAAAAAKs/4qGn1k31fiMUIRRb7hZv4azQ0kj-aBqvQCLcBGAs/s320/Plan_de_vaisselle_CIWL%252C_%2528c%2529_wagons-lits_diffusion_paris.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Image taken from Wikipedia,&nbsp;<span class="mw-mmv-filename">Plan de vaisselle CIWL</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div><br /></div>If you had any pretense to importance, you wanted to be seen on that train, and that went for fictional characters as well as the more mundane sort. Dracula's hunters went by Orient Express from Paris to Varna, beating their quarry to the punch. English hero Harry Flashman went with his journalist friend Blowitz on the train's maiden voyage. James Bond nearly lost his life on that train, and Agatha Christie uses it twice, once in a short story, and again in her novel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4m3yAoW8E">Murder on the Orient Express</a> - probably the most famous novel about the Orient Express.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rQpMOSwOqaw/WpwMqRRMs7I/AAAAAAAAAK8/FvGeSwMIV2QL4gx-au_9-sDs3bACv3prACLcBGAs/s1600/800px-Orient-Express_Historic_Routes_%2528en%2529.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="800" height="247" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rQpMOSwOqaw/WpwMqRRMs7I/AAAAAAAAAK8/FvGeSwMIV2QL4gx-au_9-sDs3bACv3prACLcBGAs/s320/800px-Orient-Express_Historic_Routes_%2528en%2529.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Image taken from Wikipedia.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The Great War knocked back the Express, and for the first time in its history it was unable to traverse its entire route. At war's end, armistice papers were signed aboard one of the train's luxury carriages; when Hitler kicked off World War Two, he made sure that the French surrender documents were signed aboard that same carriage, and later, when defeat seemed imminent, he blew it up. After World War Two the train revived again, but with a dramatically altered route; some of its traditional stops were now behind the Iron Curtain. However in the end it wasn't history but technology that killed it off; in the jet set age, there was no demand for train travel, however luxurious. For a brief time there was no train at all. Then in 1982 enthusiasts revived the brand, restoring some of the old carriages and building others. Now the London to Venice luxury run is purely for well-heeled sightseers, not for travelers on their own mysterious passage from wherever to whenever.<br /><br />The train and carriages seen in the photographs are 1930s vintage, probably left there in the 1970s. If the 1980s enthusiasts looked at them at all, presumably they believed what was left wasn't economically viable - they may have been too far gone to be restored.<br /><br />With all that in mind, some scenario seeds for Night's Black Agents, Fear Itself, and Esoterrorists.<br /><br /><b>Night's Black Agents</b>: the opposition proposes a midnight meeting at the train yards; whether to exchange hostages or for some other reason is immaterial to the seed. The exchange is to take place aboard one of the abandoned Orient Express cars. As might be expected, it's a trap: two snipers have the train carriage covered, and there's a bomb inside.<br /><br /><i>Thrilling Elements:&nbsp;</i><br /><ul><li>A chilled bottle of champagne and an appropriate number of glasses rest on one of the abandoned carriage's seats. [<i>the bomb, on remote detonation, is under the seat</i>.]</li><li>A goods train comes to an unexpected stop some distance away, and the screech can be heard throughout the yards.</li><li>The faint glow of cigarettes can be seen, perhaps some fifty yards away - train staff on a crafty break, or something else?</li><li>Train cars loom ominously in the darkness; every shadow could hide a potential threat.</li><li>A tapped-out, blood-starved Renfield [<i>the Conspiracy think she's a traitor, and this is as good a way as any of dealing with her</i>], captured ally or other defenseless, twitching body is tied up on the carriage floor.</li><li>A train unexpectedly switches to the track the agents are on.</li></ul><div><b>Fear Itself:</b> Urban Explorers say the Orient Express cars have a completely different personality at night, and the latest dare is to go there after midnight and leave some sign that you've been there - a card, a mark, anything. However some of those who do never return, and some who do return say they hear odd noises, a voice speaking in German. In fact, one is the train car Hitler ordered destroyed, but not because he thought it would be used as a war trophy. The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occultism_in_Nazism#Claims_of_Nazi_occultism">demon inside Hitler</a> transferred its consciousness to a special phylactery shortly before war's end, and arranged for it to be hidden inside the train car, for later retrieval by dedicated followers. The dazed and reeling Fuhrer, free of its influence, tried to have the car destroyed, but the demon's followers prevented this. However the last few months of the war saw all the Nazi occultists killed or captured, which meant nobody was able to retrieve the phylactery. There it sits to this day, waiting to be rediscovered - and in the meantime causing all kinds of mayhem to those unwise enough to disturb it without using the proper ritual.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Esoterrorists:&nbsp;</b> Several Esoterror cells across Europe have united with a singular purpose: to place copies of the abandoned Orient Express cars in every train stop that the original Express visited, before the Great War. Urban explorers from Paris to Istanbul report seeing these train cars, apparently copied to the last detail from the Belgian originals, left in depots and apparently forgotten. Are the Esoterrorists trying to create some kind of spirit copy of the original Orient Express, and if so, is this to weaken the Membrane, or have the Esoterrorists some other purpose in mind? Could this be an attempt to resurrect someone, or something, that rode aboard the Orient Express? Does this have anything to do with a string of murders, also from Paris to Istanbul, with one thing in common: an antique train ticket from 1892 found in the pockets of the dead?</div><div><br /></div><div>That's it for this week. Enjoy! &nbsp;</div><b></b><b></b><i></i><b></b><b></b><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-46008646249032874092018-02-25T08:42:00.000-08:002018-02-25T08:42:00.243-08:00Quick and Dirty: Limassol, CyprusThis week's post is inspired by a recent Guardian article, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/17/welcome-to-limassolgrad-the-city-getting-rich-on-russian-money">Limassolgrad</a>, about the influx of Russian money into Cyprus.<br /><br /><b>Limassol</b><br /><div><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2k6jbNzmy_I/WpLL93zu4lI/AAAAAAAAAJs/QtPY-RbLl0glfOe_dteD0GrL7m7NO8aTwCLcBGAs/s1600/Night_panorama_of_Limassol%252C_Cyprus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="1600" height="74" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2k6jbNzmy_I/WpLL93zu4lI/AAAAAAAAAJs/QtPY-RbLl0glfOe_dteD0GrL7m7NO8aTwCLcBGAs/s320/Night_panorama_of_Limassol%252C_Cyprus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Image taken from Wikipedia, Plamen Matanski</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This coastal port is the second largest urban center in Cyprus, with just shy of a quarter million people in the greater metropolitan area. It has an archaeological history that goes back at least as far as the 8th Century BC, which means human habitation has existed on that site since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer">Homeric Age</a>. Its earliest history is lost to time; the information we have suggests that the first few times people tried to establish a city there, the experiment failed. </div><div><br /></div><div>However Limassol survived, and became an important see in early Christian history. King Richard Lionheart of England captured Cyprus from its Byzantine overlords during the Third Crusade, and eventually gave the island to the Templars in exchange for 100,000 bezants, but the Templars provoked revolt by enforcing high taxes to recoup the cash they paid for Cyprus. This eventually led to Cyprus being bought by a French knight, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_of_Lusignan">Guy of Lusignan</a>, inaugurating the Kingdom of Cyprus.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cyprus remained a thing to be bought and sold, however, and in 1489 its ruler, Queen Catharine, let <a href="http://civilization.wikia.com/wiki/Venetian_(Civ5)">Venice</a> purchase it, as she had no heir. To the Venetians, Cyprus was just another asset, but their rule was relatively peaceful, right up to 1570 when the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9mUdPx0sCM">Ottomans</a> conquered it, and took Limassol without a fight.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thus began an uneasy relationship between the Turks and Greeks that persists to this day. Even now, parts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famagusta#From_the_Turkish_invasion_to_the_present">Famagusta</a> in Cyprus are a ghost town, fenced off&nbsp; since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_invasion_of_Cyprus">Turks invaded in 1974</a>. For a very long time, the entire city was off-limits; it's only since 2003 that the former Greek Cypriot population was allowed to return, to a reduced portion of Famagusta.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>The British took Cyprus from the Turks in 1878, and Limassol began a regeneration. The city's infrastructure improved enormously, and it became something of a tourist resort, albeit a modest one. However by the 20th Century, change was in the air; Marxist and pro-independence groups called for a free Cyprus. This alarmed the Turkish Cypriots, who saw this as an attempt by Greeks to force them out. Greek Marxist terrorists clashed both with the British government and the Turkish opposition movement, and meanwhile Turkey tried to bolster its claim to the island by relocating more and more Turks to Cyprus, so the Turkish Cypriot minority would become the majority.</div><div><br /></div><div>This led to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyprus_Emergency">crisis of 1955-9</a>, and eventually Cyprus became an independent republic in 1960. The Republic immediately suffered internal division; the Greeks were highly annoyed at the amount of influence given to Turkish Cypriots, who were still a minority population despite the move from Turkey to relocate more Turks and alter the population balance. This eventually culminated in the Turkish invasion of 1974, and division: Northern Cyprus became Turkish, and separated from the rest of the island by a buffer zone protected by barbed wire and troops. Despite continuous negotiation, this armed stalemate persists today.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Cyprus became a member of the EU in 2004, and in 2014 produced a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Cyprus_talks#The_Joint_Declaration">Joint Declaration</a> with a view to bringing the ongoing internal conflict to an end. So far, negotiations are ongoing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Its current crisis is economic, not political. Cyprus suffered significantly as a result of the US subprime mortgage collapse in 2008, which led to a recession in Cyprus in 2009 followed by a home-grown debt crisis in 2012-13. Cyprus was bailed out by Russia, which advanced billions in loans in 2012. At the time this was seen as an attempt by Russia to bolster its hold on Cyprus, which already relied on Russian money and deposits for a substantial amount of its economy. Among other things, it led to a 'citizenship for cash' initiative, in which foreign investors who had lost more than a certain amount of money in the Cyprus cash crisis would be fast-tracked for Cyprus citizenship - and thus, an EU passport. This was announced by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicos_Anastasiades">Cyprus President Anastasiades</a> to a group of Russian investors in 2013, at a conference held at Limassol. Nowadays it's a straight cash-for-passport deal: invest two million in Euro in property, and you too can have an EU passport. This led to a steady influx of Russian cash, and Limassol's skyline blossoms with new luxury apartment buildings, while its coastline sprouts marinas packed with luxury yachts. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Population</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Urban population over 180,000, and the greater metropolitan area boasts just shy of a quarter million, which puts Limassol on par with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Las_Vegas,_Nevada">North Las Vegas, Nevada</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>The majority population is Greek Cypriot, with a healthy mix of Turkish and Armenian Cypriot.&nbsp; After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a substantial minority population of Pontic Greeks, from the shores of the Black Sea, settled in Limassol, but this population is overshadowed by the larger influx of Russians since the 2008 economic collapse and Russian regeneration. Some 17% of the population of Limassol is Russian-speaking, and at least 8% are Russian born. Cyrillic signage, adverts and similar are commonplace.</div><div><br /></div><div>Greek is the official language, with English a very distant second at 4% of the population.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>The vast majority are Greek Orthodox, with Roman Catholicism a very distant second at 2.9% of the population.</div><div><br /></div><div>Literacy is at 99%.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Conflict</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The crime rate is low, in comparison to similar EU cities. Armed violence, or criminal acts against the public, are remarkably absent. Similarly drug trafficking and transnational smuggling is a minor concern; there's some hashish and cocaine traffic, but Limassol isn't considered a major smuggling hub.</div><div><br /></div><div>However like many cities in Greece there is a significant organized crime network in Limassol. Cigarette smuggling is the traditional source of income for these Godfathers of the Night, but they involve themselves in every financial sector. This is one of the reasons why Russia's organized crime networks haven't penetrated Limassol quite as thoroughly as might have been expected, given the circumstances; the locals have the situation all sewn up. This includes officialdom; it's widely believed that public officials and police are in the pockets of the Godfathers. These organizations are family-like cells, with the father supporting several sons, but it does not follow that there are blood ties between father and son, or that they are all Greek Cypriot. These organizations are known to accept other ethnic groups into the family.</div><div><br /></div><div>By far the most significant crime in Cyprus generally, and Limassol in particular, is financial. Cyprus' lax financial regulations make it a money laundering magnet; even back in the 1990s, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/apr/06/society">Misha Glenny</a>, approximately $1 billion in Russian capital was being processed by Cyprus each month.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Tensions between ethnic Turks and Greeks remain high, but Limassol is on the southern coast of Cyprus, about as far as possible as it is to be from the Turk/Greek buffer zone and still be in Cyprus.&nbsp;</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Backdrop</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Limassol's Kolossi Castle is one of the ten castles of Cyprus. Built by the Byzantines originally, around 1000 AD, it's supposedly where Richard Lionheart married his Queen, Berengeria of Navarre, during the Third Crusade. The current version of Kolossi was built by the Hospitallers in 1454, and consists of a large, square keep with rectangular bailey. It houses a medieval museum, with artefacts that date back to 400 AD in some instances.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ge9SF8CthS8/WpLG-cTTmyI/AAAAAAAAAJM/GzDPiNjSbXgArhzSwRODYR3Qbtlk51j6ACLcBGAs/s1600/800px-Chypre_-_Kolossi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ge9SF8CthS8/WpLG-cTTmyI/AAAAAAAAAJM/GzDPiNjSbXgArhzSwRODYR3Qbtlk51j6ACLcBGAs/s320/800px-Chypre_-_Kolossi.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Image sourced from Wikipedia,&nbsp;Gérard Janot</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Limassol's building boom is a huge part of its current economy. Cranes and half-built luxury apartment buildings are an almost permanent part of the skyline, and new luxury megayachts are docking at one of the New Port's marinas every day. <a href="http://citizenships.eu/limassol/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuI71hqPB2QIVx0wNCh14dAFqEAAYAiAAEgIT4vD_BwE#footage">The best have beachfront views</a>, naturally, but the mix of architectural styles and accommodation mean that Limassol's architecture is idiosyncratic, particularly when compared to Cyprus generally.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tLZlZtvamgI/WpLI37b6GyI/AAAAAAAAAJY/mIW45BpobFAePCcZe_Rg8tV0aeXuyfGdgCLcBGAs/s1600/Limassol%2BRoyal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="729" data-original-width="1332" height="175" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tLZlZtvamgI/WpLI37b6GyI/AAAAAAAAAJY/mIW45BpobFAePCcZe_Rg8tV0aeXuyfGdgCLcBGAs/s320/Limassol%2BRoyal.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Image taken from Limassol Royal real estate agency.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Limassol is famous for its carnivals, particularly the ten-day festival that takes place just before Lent each year. Supposedly an outgrowth of a pagan tradition, the carnival has some similarities with Venice's - not surprising given Cyprus' Venetian ties - but by comparison Venice is much more formal, where Limassol is relaxed, carefree, and more than a little inebriated. There are masquerade balls, cheese feasts, a satirical King or Queen of the Carnival, and parades galore.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kM9Yvjz9Lw0/WpLLWYF1vcI/AAAAAAAAAJk/mlGlHSX1VAQ-o2dPSuey5SLJwD5efNDzgCLcBGAs/s1600/Carnival_in_Limassol_2014_%252812887788193%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1024" height="214" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kM9Yvjz9Lw0/WpLLWYF1vcI/AAAAAAAAAJk/mlGlHSX1VAQ-o2dPSuey5SLJwD5efNDzgCLcBGAs/s320/Carnival_in_Limassol_2014_%252812887788193%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Carnival 2014, image taken from Wikipedia, Sergei Galyonkin</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Three Hooks</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The Conspiracy mooks your team just dropped all have Cyprus passports and ROC tattoos, and one of them has brochures from a Limassol real estate agency in his pocket. This ties in with rumors you've been hearing through your Network contacts, about a major Conspiracy asset - possibly even a vampire - that relocated her assets, and perhaps her sanctum, from Russia to a European base of operations. Is she there herself, or does this mean there's a Conspiracy node operating in Limassol?&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>The people smugglers you've been tracking have a significant operation in Cyprus - mainly supplying unskilled labor and sex workers. However a look at their recent pattern of operations (Traffic Analysis, possibly Human Terrain) indicates that the flow of sex workers in particular has increased significantly, and that can be attributed to a small string of Limassol nightclubs controlled by an organized crime group, increasing demand. But what is it about those nightclubs that forces them to bring in so many sex workers? What's happening to all those women?</div><div><br /></div><div>A former member of Turkey's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Intelligence_Organization_(Turkey)">National Intelligence Organization</a> is shopping data on targets in Germany, Switzerland and Greece. This spy got badly burnt in a recent operation, and wants guarantees of safety in exchange for the information she possesses. However before negotiations conclude she's snatched off the street, and indications are that one of Cyprus' Godfathers of the Night paid for her abduction. Where's her data, and why are OC elements based in Limassol so interested in what she had to offer?</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Thrilling Elements</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><ul><li>&nbsp;Groups of laughing, drunken young revelers meander from nightclub to nightclub along the waterfront. After 2am, if you're over 24, you'll feel as old as Methuselah.</li><li>After another Limassol football victory, sports fans throng the streets, cheering and boasting.</li><li>Expensive sports cars and the ultra-rich flock to the marinas at Limassol's New Port; celebrities and those who love to stalk them are often seen.&nbsp;</li><li>A cruise ship docks, disgorging hundreds of tourists that scatter over the city, seeking diversion.</li><li>Tourists wind through the streets of old-fashioned wine making <a href="http://omodosvillage.com/">Omodos village</a>, only a short distance to the north of Limassol proper.&nbsp;</li><li>A group of disparate foreigners - surely not fun-seekers - cluster together at a café, eyeing strangers suspiciously. They're all young men of fighting age - might they be on their way to some Middle Eastern war zone?</li></ul>Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-51338040578736426382018-02-18T06:49:00.001-08:002018-02-18T06:49:35.149-08:00Akkat, Mother of the Sunrise: Part 2, City BuilderLast time I discussed the basics of this city build: what kind of place is it, what is it famous for, where (roughly) is it located? Now the time has come to go into a little more detail. What, exactly, is this city like?<br /><br />When I've discussed <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2015/11/exercising-mind.html">character design</a> before, it's always been in the form of question-and-answer.&nbsp; Exactly the same process can be followed here, slightly altered. So where I might ask about the character's name, age, ethnicity and gender, I now ask about the city's name, age, ethnic makeup, and landmarks.<br /><br />To give you some examples:<br /><br /><i><b><u>Name:</u></b></i> Akkat, Mother of the Sunrise. The title Mother of the Sunrise derives in part from the city's most valuable find: the Sunrise star gem, currently held by the Lugal, or ruler, of Akkat.<br /><br /><b><i><u>Age:</u></i></b> People have been living here for uncounted generations. However the current rule of the guilds is less than a century old; in the time of grandfather's father, Akkat was ruled by the Lugal, who in turn owed his fealty to the great Raj of the Northern Kingdoms. The Northern Kingdoms in their mountain fastness have ceased to be a concern ever since the great rebellions, and the Lugal hasn't been a serious force in local politics for many decades.<br /><br /><b><i><u>Ethnic Makeup:</u></i></b> Akkat is majority human. There is a much higher proportion of Tieflings here than anywhere else in human lands; about a fifth of the city are Tieflings, including many of its most important guildsmen. Though there aren't many half-orc citizens, nearly all the guild guard are half-orcs, with human officers - though the officers are largely for show, the guard being commanded in practice by its non-coms. Halflings and Elves are uncommon but not unheard of; many of the riverboat captains and crew are members of these races. Dwarves, gnomes and dragonborn are among the least common, and dragonborn are especially distrusted, since the old Raj of the Northern Kingdoms was led by dragon-kin.<br /><br /><b><i><u>Three Landmarks:</u></i></b> <br /><ul><li><i>The Thousand Window Palace</i>, where the Lugal traditionally holds court, is an architectural wonder, and its stained glass windows are a superlative example of the glassblower's art. The scenes depicted there show the great moments of the Lugal, and the Raj. Though the Palace is meticulously preserved, no new windows have been added for a hundred years. The Palace Guard is headquartered here, and the Lugal's Court is open daily, so the Lugal can hear the concerns of his people. The Palace Guard, as distinct from the city guard, is entirely human, and ceremonial. In days long gone, it was often the case that a new Lugal achieved power thanks to the quick and stealthy blade of an influential Guardsman. As a result, these days the Guard aren't allowed anything sharper than a wooden staff. They even eat their food with wooden utensils.</li><li><i>Destiny Quarter,</i> the ghetto where most of the Tieflings live, is alive morning, noon and night. When Tieflings began coming here, at first they were confined to a small section of the city that nobody else wanted. Over time, as more of them arrived, their political power increased. Now some of the richest citizens of Akkat live here, side by side with the finest merchant mansions, the most expensive and famous inns and eating houses. The one thing that hasn't changed in all that time is Destiny Gate, that used to mark the way in and out of the walled ghetto. The Tieflings prefer it that way, as a reminder; the ghetto walls may have come down, but if you seek your Destiny, you go through that gate.&nbsp;</li><li><i>The Permit House</i> is where you have to go if you want permission to build anything. Since the very rocks of Akkat are impregnated with magical materials, and since merely digging a foundation might uncover priceless wealth, building rights are very strictly controlled. There are only three licensed building contractors in the entire city, each of them richer than a king. Building without a license, or hiring yourself out as an independent contractor, is&nbsp; brutally punished; the hands of those who try are cut off and nailed up above the Permit House door. Applications for new build, or to repair existing buildings, often vanish within the labyrinthine corridors of the Permit House, never to be seen again. Of course, grumble ordinary citizens, Tieflings never seem to have any trouble getting permission ...</li></ul><div><b><i><u>Economy:</u></i></b> Akkat's most famous, and lucrative, export, is the star gems from which it gets its name and reputation. These highly magical items are sought after by wizards, sorcerers, liches, kings and princes. There are only a handful of official mining operations, and unofficial diggings are harshly punished - hence the Permit House. This increases the scarcity of an already rare commodity. Moreover the wizards and Tiefling jewelers of Akkat are supposed to have an especial affinity for these gems; a magical device incorporating a star gem shaped and polished by their cunning hands is said to be especially powerful, and valuable.</div><div><br /></div><div>However it does not stop at gems. The forges of Akkat, incorporating that same magically potent stone, are supposed to be capable of producing the finest magical blades. The very best swordsmiths are, it is said, working on sentient items to rival the creations of mythic wonder-workers of times past. Whether or not this is true is besides the point; a magical blade from Akkat, with the mark of one of the Guild's swordsmiths, is worth twice as much as any other of its type, whether or not it has any kind of extra potency.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally there are the glassblowers. This is a relatively recent innovation for Akkat; the first master glassblowers relocated here forty years ago. However in that brief time they have become renowned for their skill and delicate craftsmanship; alchemists and lovers of art alike swear by Akkat glass, which, so it is said, captures sunlight like nothing else on this earth. The thing that puzzles visitors to Akkat is, why do these glassblowers not add new windows to the Thousand Window Palace? Yet, to date, none have.<br /><br />There is one other branch of the economy that the Guilds and the lords of Akkat prefer did not exist: poppies. Again, thanks to the magical qualities of the city, its people are themselves slightly magical. You can't live all your life surrounded by material from the far-flung stars, and not pick up a tiny amount of background radiation. Even the animals are a touch fey. What this means is, the night-soil of the city - excellent manure - is the perfect food for a particularly delicate flowering plant, commonly called the Sunset Poppy. The seeds of this plant, properly processed, produce an addictive narcotic, sold throughout the Southern lands as Sunset, Moonglow, or Journey's End. The Thieves' Guild makes a very tidy profit from cultivation of these poppies; most, if not all, of the night soil collectors of Akkat are on the payroll. It's safer that way. Those who resist meet unfortunate accidents. The fields, and processing facilities, are outside the city proper, high up in the hills; it makes it that much easier for the lords of Akkat to ignore a problem on its doorstep.<br /><br />***<br /><br />What I'm getting at is this: as a designer of worlds, you can create cities and characters in exactly the same way. If you want to design a character, you ask how old they are, how they make their money, what they look like, what they value, what they want, what they dream of, what their secrets are. For a city, you ask exactly the same questions. The difference is merely scale. A city needs more, makes more money, has grander vistas, and outlives even its oldest citizen. But the questions remain the same.<br /><br />Don't think this just applies to fantasy cities. The same technique can be used to design your version of London, or Macau, or wherever it might be. Sure, a lot of that information can be found in Wikipedia, but you're after the stuff that's not in Wikipedia. Say you're building a version of London much like that Ben Aaronovitch uses for his <a href="http://temporarilysignificant.blogspot.com/p/a-chronology-of-rivers-of-london-books.html">Rivers of London</a> series. It's very like the London of today - but not exactly like. For the bits that don't fit established modern London, you ask exactly those questions I've asked here - and design your version of London around that.<br /><br />Which brings me to adventures. Once you design a city, the kind of adventures that happen there should flow from that design. Such as:<br /><br />A swordsmith has crafted a particularly fine longsword, that he wishes to sell to a nobleman far away. However he needs someone to guard the weapon on its journey South. The swordsmith's rivals are very jealous of his work, and one of them will stop at nothing to prevent the sale - but which of them paid off the bandits that attacked the adventurers?<br /><br />A Tiefling, on coming of age, or marking a particular life triumph, walks through the Destiny Gate as part of a ceremony that usually involves days, sometimes weeks of feasting, masquerade, and song. The masquerade balls are particularly famous; the grander the masquerade, the more important - and wealthy - the Tiefling host. However this particular Tiefling, on walking through the Destiny Gate, somehow opens up a small, personal connection to the Abyss. Nothing so dramatic as a flaming portal through which can be heard the wailing of the damned; rather, unexpected and swift corrosion, say of furnishings, clothing, or food, or a brief plague of Abyssal small fry, like Dretch, or Manes. Each time this happens, it's centered on the unfortunate Tiefling who walked through the Gate. Naturally this complicates the masquerade somewhat, but it also provokes a human backlash. Can the adventurers defuse the situation, before an angry mob tears through Destiny Quarter? <br /><br />An innkeeper has, through accident or design, dug a very small pit in the cellar of her inn. Only the tiniest of scrapings, but if the authorities ever hear about it, her hand will be nailed up above the Permit House door. However, if she were somehow to obtain retroactive permission for her illegal excavation, all will be well. Can the adventurers forge, or otherwise obtain, that all-important permit?<br /><br />That's enough for now. Next week, something completely different!</div><ul><b></b><i></i><u></u></ul>Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-87043221707723637482018-02-11T04:41:00.000-08:002018-02-11T04:41:59.946-08:00Building Fantasy (13th Age, Dungeons & Dragons)Some friends of mine are leaving the island soon. If you listened to the last Halloween game, you know who they are - Tach and Max. Tacha is off to pursue a degree in Stage Management in Canada, and Max is going with her because those two are joined at the (very tall) hip, and besides, there are more chances for actors in Canada.<br /><br />As a kind of farewell present, I said I'd run a game of their choice, and they opted for 5th Edition Dungeons &amp; Dragons, which until now I'd never run. I've played D&amp;D before, of course - red box, DMG with the Efrit on the cover, 3.5, yadda yadda. But I stopped at 3.5. Now I've been talked into giving 5th a go, I must admit, I'm pleasantly surprised. It's by far the easiest of the systems to run, and it's not so chart-heavy simulationist as to frighten off the new player.<br /><br />I thought I'd play with the concept a little bit, and design a fantasy town. Keepers running 13th Age games, take note: while I won't go heavily into 13th Age stuff, there's no reason why you couldn't pillage this for use in your game.<br /><br />Begin at the beginning: why design a town? Mainly because the players need a base of operations, somewhere they can return to for supplies, healing, and emotional support, after the dragons have ruthlessly mocked their combat skills, dubious parentage, and other weak points. Of course, that base could be anything - wizard's tower, hobbit village, elven shrine - but by making it a town, you open up a variety of different plot threads. Ultimately there's only so much mystery to be had in a tower. If you design a town, there's a lot you can leave blank, to be filled in later. Plus, there's more chances for other fantasy races to get involved. Hobbit villages are all very well, but unless you're planning on putting a half-orc ghetto on the outskirts of Hobbiton - and Bilbo Baggins strikes me as the ultimate NIMBY - there's only so much diversity to be had.<br /><br />Let's start with the very basics: what kind of town, and what kind of setting? Is it a trading outpost, a manufacturing town, a great port? Is this broadly Northern European, Mediterranean, Pacific island waystation, ancient necropolis on the outskirts of a vast wasteland?<br /><br />I like the idea of the town being able to supply something nowhere else can. Its unique status means it'll be fought over by all the powers, but it also means everyone will want to go there. Merchants will send their caravans, nobles and leaders their emissaries, and everyone else will want to go just to say they've been. <br /><br />That brings me to <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/german-town-contains-millions-diamonds-180961467/">Nordlingen</a>. If you've ever spent five minutes on the internet, you've probably seen an article or photograph, as it's famous in an Atlas Obscura kind of way. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nKVXElpjmtQ/Wn2fRKF8NeI/AAAAAAAAAI8/KPZez8cLHx8eYpRDsV_VjJOiCF4dMSdzgCLcBGAs/s1600/nordlingen.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nKVXElpjmtQ/Wn2fRKF8NeI/AAAAAAAAAI8/KPZez8cLHx8eYpRDsV_VjJOiCF4dMSdzgCLcBGAs/s320/nordlingen.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>About 15 million years ago a meteorite smacked into what is now Bavaria, creating a massive bowl-shaped crater, about 14 kilometers wide, between 100 to 150 meters deep. Over time humans arrived, and started building in that crater. They didn't know it was caused by a meteorite; they thought it was a volcano. Be that as it may, they started quarrying the remains of the meteorite and using the diamond-encrusted stone as building material. The diamond remnants are breathtakingly small - about 0.2 mm across - but there are uncounted hundreds of thousands of them embedded in the bricks and stones of Nordlingen.</div><div><br /></div><div>So let's poach that, and posit: millennia ago, a meteorite smashed into the earth, bringing with it large quantities of precious minerals. Most of it was smashed into pieces so small that they can't be seen except with the most delicate of instruments, but there are still portions large enough to be quarried, shaped, and polished to a fine sheen. These gems, found nowhere else on earth, are prized highly by magical scholars, for their mystic properties. Physically, I picture them as similar to rubies, but with an internal, captivating flicker. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sorcerers and Warlocks, particularly Tieflings, are drawn to this place like a moth to a flame, and the Tiefling community here is larger and more politically powerful than in any other place in the realm. A great river runs nearby, and merchants from across the realms send their caravans, offering up the wealth of kings in exchange for the magical gems of this proud city.</div><div><br /></div><div>As a government, I see this as a town where the craftsmen's guilds have taken over, big time. There was a noble leader at one point, and there probably still is a kind of rump nobility - someone to wear the pretty hat and wave at ceremonies. But the guilds wear the pants in this metaphorical marriage. They pay for defense, they negotiate with other powers, they write and enforce the laws. If they want something done, it gets done, or there'll be trouble.</div><div><br /></div><div>With this much money at stake, there's bound to be a Thieves' Guild. They'd have to tread softly with all these Craftsman's Guild enforcers wandering around ostentatiously sharpening their weapons, but that's never stopped a greedy man before. Besides, merchants will want a way around all those tariffs the Craftsmen's Guild imposes, and getting around tariffs is what a good Thieves' Guild is all about. </div><div><br /></div><div>The only thing I haven't discussed so far is cultural location. What kind of place is this? Well, I've mentioned rubies, and that always makes me think of tropical locales. Myanmar, in Southeast Asia, has long had a reputation as a source of rubies. So we're talking cloudy, rainy, with hot, humid summers, and a parched dry season in winter. There are mountains to the north, but I don't see the town in a mountainous locale. Tropical forest covers most of the countryside, and the great river sweeps down to the delta and far away, to the wide, trackless ocean.</div><div><br /></div><div>So I give you Akkat: Mother of the Sunrise, jewel of the great Chinda River, where the Asteria, or Star, gems come from.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Next post shall be a deeper dive into Akkat. What makes it tick, and what kind of adventure can be found there?</div><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-25963506883002480902018-02-07T12:05:00.002-08:002018-02-07T12:05:37.305-08:00The Man Downstairs (Miskatonic Repository)Well, I said I'd do it, and it's done.<br /><br /><b><i><u><a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/233316/The-Man-Downstairs?src=newest_community">The Man Downstairs</a></u></i></b>, a CoC scenario set in Jazz Age Harlem, New York, is up on the Miskatonic Repository at DriveThruRPG. This is very much an experiment for me. I want to see whether it has legs.<br /><br />If any of you buy it, I hope you enjoy it - a review would be appreciated!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jb8CFQV_bek/Wntbz3JepDI/AAAAAAAAAIs/RXEvZ9VPwwgzQp0SWO7a7Ges8jE2XTgQgCLcBGAs/s1600/Cover%2BImage2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="765" data-original-width="610" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jb8CFQV_bek/Wntbz3JepDI/AAAAAAAAAIs/RXEvZ9VPwwgzQp0SWO7a7Ges8jE2XTgQgCLcBGAs/s320/Cover%2BImage2.png" width="255" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><span style="font-family: &quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><i>The tenants at 224 Lenox Avenue, between W 121st and W122nd, New York City, have a neighbor they have never met, and never knew existed until a few weeks ago, yet he has always been there. Josef Voorzanger has been hiding for more than forty years, but time has eaten his once-sharp mind, and his wards are no longer strong enough to keep out the curious. Josef made a bad bargain a long time ago, and now the entity he bartered with is sending the Man with Lightning Flowers to collect - unless the investigators, hired by the owners of 224 Lenox, can find Josef first</i>.</span><br /><b><br /></b><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-28731788744498913292018-02-04T09:54:00.000-08:002018-02-04T09:54:18.714-08:00Person of Interest: Benjamin Rucker, aka Black Herman (RPG all, especially Timewatch)Professor Black Herman, the self-proclaimed World's Greatest Negro Magician, was born in a Zulu village, to hear him tell it, and spent his early life learning the mystic secrets of the Orient while dodging Chinese assassins, bent on revenge for his refusing to help them steal a priceless diamond from the head of a statue of Buddha. Seeing that the end was nigh, rather than deliver himself into the hands of his enemies, Black Herman drank poison and died. Many dignitaries, including the King of the Zulus, gathered to pay respects, only to gape in wonderment, as Black Herman stepped out of his coffin and back into the land of the living. Then, after a display of wonders to rival the best, Black Herman went across the seas, to try his luck at fame and fortune in the Americas.<br /><br />Or, to be slightly more accurate, Benjamin Rucker was probably born in Amherst, Virginia, in 1892. He tried a number of different professions before taking up the magician's wand, but by 1906 he was well on his way. He's known to have worked with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhYsquaOV08">Harry Kellar</a>, but it's his alleged association with huckster, herb doctor, and fellow Virginian Prince Herman that he's best known for. It's not entirely clear whether Rucker worked with Prince Herman or not, but Rucker said he did, and he took on Herman's stage name after Prince Herman died unexpectedly in 1909. <br /><br />Rucker, then only 17, was set to conquer the world, but there was a problem: he was black, in a world where that mattered more than anything. When he worked with Prince Herman, he could perform in the South; now he was a solo act, segregation laws confined him to non-white audiences, unless he was performing in the North. So he set his sights on other audiences, and by 1918 was at the height of his talent. An absolute master of stage magic, he also mixed in a healthy dose of hoodoo and herbal remedies; for, as Rucker himself put it, he was a man who knew how to spend $1 twice over and still have change left, and fortunetelling with a healthy dose of herbal remedies were where the money was.<br /><br />Hoodoo, for those unfamiliar with the term, is not voodoo. Hoodoo is an American variant on West African folklore, also known as conjure, root doctoring, or rootworking. It blends herbal remedies with <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2015/02/forgotten-lore-bookhounds-of-london.html">Moses-as-conjuror</a>; the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_and_Seventh_Books_of_Moses">Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses</a> are the core texts of this spiritualist movement. A hoodoo worker makes talismans, oils, candles and incense, to minister to every possible need or ailment. Though hoodoo has a strong element of ancestor worship, it lacks the loa that vaudon sanctifies, and also lacks the Catholic overtones of voodoo. <br /><br />The man who not only can foretell the future, but also supply every possible remedy to human frailty, can make a great deal of money, which is exactly what Benjamin Rucker did.<br /><br />Things went from good to better. He bought a brownstone in Harlem, NYC, where he saw all his clients. He performed across the country, and when the performances were over, he used his hoodoo skills to counsel his audience. He became a devoted friend and counselor to Marcus Garvey, leader of the Back to Africa movement, and Garvey was far from Burcker's only friend and confidante; Black Herman was probably the best-connected hoodoo man and performing magician of his day. He was an Elk, a Freemason, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Pythias">Knight of Pythias</a>. He donated to churches and worthy causes, funded scholarships, was a friend to poor man and intellectuals, politicians and power brokers. Everyone wanted to be on good terms with the man who knew how to twist the skein of fortune any way he wanted.<br /><br />HIs signature performance piece was a living burial. He picked a spot, which he called his Private Graveyard, and lay in his coffin on display for all to see; it cost ten cents to check his pulse. Then he was buried, but when his coffin was disinterred a few days later he stepped out, none the worse. He used his miraculous recovery as a kick-off for his stage performance, emerging from the coffin to lead a parade to the stage. It was his boast that he returned to a venue once every seven years - a picturesque way of saying he was constantly on tour.<br /><br />Things didn't always go his way. In 1927 he was arrested and sent to Sing Sing on charges of fortune telling and selling medicine without a license, but he only spent a brief time in jail. His supporters claimed a prison cell couldn't hold him; he'd walk out of there any time he liked. He wasn't in jail long in any event, and the 1929 stock market crash didn't hurt his fortune much; whatever financial losses he might have suffered were soon made back again, by telling more fortunes and selling more conjure medicine.<br /><br />He died young. In 1934 he collapsed at a friend's home - some stories say it actually happened on stage - suffering massive cardiac failure. He was only 44 years old.<br /><br />Even then, his admirers and well-wishers didn't believe it. Professor Black Herman, dead? The man who'd stepped out of the coffin more times than a man could count? No, never; thousands went to the funeral home to see his body, laid out in state. His assistant, Washington Reeves - later to take on Black Herman's stage name - charged money to view the corpse. But this time it didn't step out of the casket; Benjamin Rucker had enraptured his last audience.<br /><br />From a gamificiation viewpoint, a hoodoo stage magician who performs throughout the 1920s and 30s, all across the United States, is a perfect NPC for Trail or Call of Cthulhu. However with that mysterious death, can he be anything other than a Timewatch agent? You can almost picture the funeral home, after everyone else is left, as Black Herman walks out of the grave one last time, and into Time itself.<br /><br />With that in mind:<br /><br /><i>Recruitment Drive:</i> TimeWatch intends to pick up Rucker at the funeral home in 1934 but, when the agents get there, he's not in the coffin any more. Instead, an aged and scarred Rucker appears at his brownstone in Harlem, witnessed by his employee and protégée Washington Reeves, who he tells to go to the funeral home and give a message to whoever he finds there. Clearly Rucker's been time travelling, but on whose dime? And was his reappearance an attempt to contact TimeWatch, knowing that TimeWatch agents would have to be in Harlem on that date? Or is this some elaborate trap?<br /><br />That's it for now. Enjoy!Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-70622857459207242882018-01-28T05:13:00.000-08:002018-01-28T05:13:36.719-08:00Stuck for an Idea? (RPG All)Designing a campaign, a scenario, even a scene, can be very difficult. You want it to be memorable, granted. You want the players to have fun. You want something unique, or at least reasonably unique - not a bunch of easily spotted tropes. At the same time you don't want to bust your head open searching when the game's on in a day or so and you really haven't the time to mess about.<br /><br />I've said before that folklore's the best resource for a Director in search of inspiration, say for <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2012/06/history-in-making.html">cults</a> or <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-wolf-man-trail-of-cthulhu.html">creatures</a>. It's also very helpful to know your history, so you can pick out details that will be useful later. Say you want to put something interesting and mysterious in your steampunk fantasy city. You might spend an hour scratching your head and crossing out dud ideas, or you could insert the <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2015/01/bookhounds-nights-black-agents.html">Crystal Palace.</a> Stolen from history, reborn as - well, whatever you fancy.<br /><br />But there's one other thing you can try, and that's to look at the very ordinary events and things around you, and play with them.<br /><br />You already know, as Director, that the players are going to come into contact with certain things just in the course of their day-to-day. Exactly what those things are will depend on the circumstances of the game and the setting, but there are some assumptions that can be made. The characters will need to travel from place to place. They will need to eat and sleep. They may commit crimes, or protect people from them, in which case they will come into contact with the police, other criminals, and victims. Possibly also vigilantes, depending on the nature of the setting - and so on, and on.<br /><br />The initial assumption is the basis for all the rest of the work, but underlying that initial assumption is another, more basic layer. So say this is a game about investigating mystic mysteries, everything from Templar treasures to the Bermuda Triangle. That initial assumption immediately suggests several things that you know the characters will encounter all the time: occultists, skeptics, believers, sites of mystic significance like haunted houses and stone circles. That in turn suggests that you, as Director, need to make some notes about all those things, for use in those moments when the characters need direction and you haven't got something more significant planned. Are the players at a loss? Maybe it's time to follow up on that tip they heard about the Winchester House. None of this has to be in-depth; it just has to have enough depth to occupy attention.<br /><br />However that's the initial assumption, not the basic layer. The basic layer is simply this: the things the characters encounter all the time, whether they want to or not.&nbsp; The characters will always want to eat, to sleep, to move around. They'll buy clothing, toys, game consoles. They will have needs and they'll want to fill them. At the same time there will be events happening around them regardless of whether or not the players are directly involved, because everyone else in the game world has needs to satisfy too. This is at the heart of every system, regardless of setting or mechanics, and you can play with this layer in many different ways - so long as you establish it first.<br /><br />It's been a long time since I've played, but I loved <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-art-of-deal-gumshoe-all.html">Cyberpunk 2020</a> way back when, because it spent time on little details like that. The splatbooks told you what guns and chipware were for sale, but they also gave you a little nugget of information about the game world along with it.<i> Jeweldecks are manufactured to order by Faberge of Switzerland. The customer collaborates with the company's designers on the design of the jewelry that the deck will be built into ... Survivable, capable and powerful - when the going gets tough, turn to Spinelli Autotech ... Leisurewear isn't about sports, it's about <u>feeling</u> like you're into sports. Our goal is to make everyone feel authentic, even if they're just sitting at home in front of the Netbox, knocking back Smash.</i><br /><i><br /></i>Look at those flavor comments. They establish the setting quickly and give context for what's going on, more clearly and more succinctly than any data dump. It's all about <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2014/08/worldbuilding-on-underground-bookhounds.html">worldbuilding</a> in the end, and the sooner you establish your world the better it will be for your campaign. Everything you do to make your world yours will encourage the players to explore and inhabit it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fw2yZsSdws">BioShock</a>'s a classic example; that undersea city wouldn't feel the same without its personalized vending machines, its peppy little sentry bots, its gloomy interiors split by flickering neon lights, the New Year's masks everyone wears, and those mournful, lethal Big Daddies in their diving suits. It's that world more than anything else that draws the player forward, to interact with the setting.<br /><div><br /></div><div>I started this by talking about inspiration, and how the basic layer can be a vital source of inspiration for the Director. By that I mean this: by considering what's in the basic layer, you can design upward and create something for the players to interact with. That's exactly what Cyberpunk did, exactly what BioShock did - they shaped everything in their worlds by playing with that basic layer, by considering the things the characters encounter all the time and then building on those things. The characters have needs and want to fill them. As Director, how you provide fulfilment for those needs shapes everything else in the game going forward.<br /><br />Say this is a fantasy setting with Gods and their clerics, or similar. The basic layer is this: the trappings and dogmas of that religion. Its shrines may be everywhere - are they decorated with flowers, candles, incense, something else? Do its worshippers leave offerings, and if so of what? How are the dead treated? These are the questions you need to answer, and you need to pepper the game world with that answer as often as possible. After all, the characters would see these shrines every day; they've probably made offerings at them many times. But by ensuring these shrines have just a little bit of detail, you help to build the world.<br /><br />Don't feel as if you have to kill yourself with detail. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV1NBHL9Fa4">Grim Fandango</a>, for example, never tells you a great deal about the world of the dead; its worldbuilding is established in a few little details, such as how florists become insane weaponsmiths because floral bullets are the way the dead are killed. A few little tricks like this make the world seem developed, perhaps more so than it actually is. Brief but informative should be your watchword, not unlike the one sentence description I've recommended for character archetypes.<br /><br />However there's one other use for the basic layer, and to cover this final point I'm going to draw your attention to something I swiped from the magnificent garbage fire that is the internet:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KpqE3pv7JCY/WjFBQjdzsTI/AAAAAAAAAIM/uQ4dG39UxX4IFxAz3Brd4tQcgPcJQNYDACLcBGAs/s1600/Disney%2BGlasses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="554" data-original-width="974" height="182" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KpqE3pv7JCY/WjFBQjdzsTI/AAAAAAAAAIM/uQ4dG39UxX4IFxAz3Brd4tQcgPcJQNYDACLcBGAs/s320/Disney%2BGlasses.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Six thousand cell phones, lost each year. Over three thousand digital cameras, eighteen thousand hats, seven thousand five hundred autograph books, lost and gone in one theme park.&nbsp;</span><i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></i>Think about that for a moment, then go to the basic layer and ask yourself: in my campaign world, what happens to the lost and found?<br /><br />Say this is a pre-industrial revolution setting, where much of it probably gets re-used, not because they were all eco-warriors back in the days of Camelot, but because they didn't have many resources to begin with so they had to stretch what they had. This is why we often find lost manuscripts and forgotten artworks hidden on the canvases and pages of classic paintings and old books; someone scraped the original clean, and started fresh. Absolutely everything gets used, which is why you could make a living in a medieval setting by scouring the streets for animal dung, and why even up to the Victorian period there'd be someone willing to cart off your 'night soil' - also known as feces.<br /><br />So if this is a fantasy setting, and your character loses, say, a notebook - or worse yet, a wizard's spellbook - then now would be a good time to track down whoever it is that collects all this stuff for resale. Somewhere out there is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaXNGhxwbSE">a man with a cart and a vision</a>, and he's got your spellbook in his pile. Alternatively, what happens if you scrape down a spellbook so you can write new spells in it? Who knows - but I bet you could have fun finding out.<br /><br />There's also magical consequences to consider. In Japanese folklore there's an entity called the Tsukumo-gami, a wraith made up of the things we leave behind. Shoes, pots, chairs, umbrellas, telephones - everything has a spirit, and if slighted these items can become furious, stalking the night, attacking people. Guy de Maupassant once wrote of a very similar thing, in his short story <a href="https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/m/maupassant/guy/who-knows/">Who Knows</a>? in which a sinister, enormously fat furniture dealer may, or may not, have persuaded a man's entire house, beds, chairs, cabinets and all, to walk out the front door and into his shop.<br /><br />When a thing becomes lost, is it really lost, or has it walked away? In Esoterrorists it may be possible for a notebook, a tablet, a camera to have a soul, and to express its disgust by escaping from its owner. In Bookhounds it's quite possible a grimoire might be alive. Or, if this is a Disney situation and all those items are lost each year in one place, what happens next to all that magical energy, bound up with nowhere to go? Are those sunglasses, cameras, cell phones used in some ritual, extracting mana from the lost and found to power - what, exactly? A ride? The lights in the Magic Castle? The ritual keeping Disney's frozen head viable?<br /><br />With all that in mind, consider this scenario seed:<br /><br />Let the player pick something valuable, which the character has lost. The character goes looking for it, and finds it - but before the character can pick it up, it's whisked away by something small, fast, and almost silent. What happened, and where is the item now?<br /><br />1) Future tech: a cleaning robot assigned to this building grabbed the unattended item, and took it away to 'lost and found.' Except someone has reprogrammed this robot - and all the others like it - to bring lost items to a secret room hidden away in the building. The question is, who did it? Is there an actual person behind this, or have the robots developed a peculiar hive mind, and bring these items here in some form of religious worship?<br /><br />2) 20th Century/Supernatural setting: the item was grabbed by a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlin">gremlin</a> or similar, that wants to make a nest for its prospective mate. Getting it back means delving into the forgotten supernatural underbelly of the city, possibly even a pocket dimension in which everything seems like, yet is not like, the world in which we live. In a Cthulhu-esque setting, the gremlin could be an extension of a Great Old One, say the Brood of Elihort, and its reasons for wanting to collect the lost and found are bound to be malevolent.<br /><br />3) Fantasy/Swords and Sorcery setting: a magical entity, possibly an archwizard, created a spell intended to help it find things it has lost. It wrote the spell down on a scroll and forgot about it, and now that scroll lies in a monastery, library or other archive. However spells have a way of reminding the world that they exist, and when this scroll realized it was due to be scraped clean so other things could be scribed on it, the spell began 'finding' things other people had 'lost' and moving them to the archive, so they could be scraped clean in its place. Of course, not all the items it 'finds' are scrolls, but it has no good way of picking the useful from the useless, so everything it gets ends up in the same place. Which would puzzle the monks/librarians no end, except the junior member meant to be cleaning up the archive each night has worked out, at least in part, what's going on, and is selling these 'lost' items at a premium discount, at the local tavern. All of which ticks off the local thieves' guild no end; after all, the guild's not getting its cut from all this unsanctioned thievery.<br /><br />That's it for this week. Enjoy!<i><br /></i></div><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-85485020976348728002018-01-28T05:04:00.000-08:002018-01-28T05:04:53.432-08:00Miskatonic Repository TeaserFirst this week, a teaser. You may be aware that, over at DriveThruRPG, Chaosium have opened up what it calls the <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/2/Chaosium/subcategory/74_29274/Miskatonic-Repository">Miskatonic Repository</a>, an official online collection of user-made content. Sounds like fun. I thought I'd dip my toe into those unholy waters, and see what develops. Hopefully not some kind of fungal infection, but you never know ...<br /><br />At any rate, consider this your official notice. The scenario's written, formatted, and almost ready for prime time. There's a few last tweaks I need to complete before sending it off into the great unknown. This is an experiment, to see just how viable the platform is. If it looks as if it's a winner, I may put more resources into this. Being more of a GUMSHOE fella, I'd love it if Pelgrane did something similar, but I'm a CoC guy from way back too, so writing this material is no great hardship for me. <br /><br />Those of you who've got copies of <a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/the-long-con/">The Long Con</a> and <a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/?s=bigsby">The Many Deaths of Edward Bigsby</a>, both of which were originally written to help fund YSDC and which are now available via Pelgrane, may wonder if this is a London-based scenario. No, not this time: the action is set in Harlem, NYC. I shan't say more than that; a full promo will be published here when the scenario hits the digital shelves.<br /><br />Price tag provisionally set at $4 a copy for a 24 page document, which is broadly the same rate charged for The Long Con and Edward Bigsby. This is, I freely admit, a practical decision; the way DriveThru calculates who gets what from each sale means it's much easier to keep track of everything if we're all dealing in round numbers. So where $3.95 would be a sod to calc, $4 is blissfully simple. <br /><br />Anyway, once it comes out, I hope you enjoy it! If it works, I will publish more via Miskatonic.Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-25089126333809826282018-01-21T06:40:00.001-08:002018-01-21T06:40:37.283-08:00Pink Panthers (Night's Black Agents)No, not <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86znnjhYrq4">that one</a>. This time out I'm going to talk about the most successful thieving syndicate of modern times, if not history itself: the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/22/pink-panthers-diamond-thieves-documentary">Pink Panthers</a>. With over 340 robberies and more than $500 million to the good, this gang of former paramilitaries, bandits, fixers and crooks has made its mark across the planet, nicking jewels from London to Tokyo. Next time you see an Audi lingering outside somewhere fat with loot, ask yourself: am I about to be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSpN7ki71SQ">witness to a daring heist</a>? <br /><br />This gang of Serbian criminals got their start in the early 2000s, after the Kosovo War of 1998-9, between the Federal Forces of Yugoslavia and the rebel, NATO-supported Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and the Bosnian War of 1992 to 1995. The end of these conflicts put a lot of very skilled, dangerous people out of business, and the sanctions against Yugoslavia throughout the 1990s, which didn't come to an end till 2001, completed an ugly picture. For some Serbs, this turmoil and economic devastation forced emigration; others became creative moneymakers, supplanting and replacing the destroyed economy with smuggling, theft and robbery.<br /><br />Imagine what happens after ten long years of civil war and economic sanctions. Then imagine the likely result when curbs that had been in place for a decade are lifted, and poor, desperate, well-trained people can move freely across the world, on their own passports or one stolen from someone else. Thieves, smugglers and bandits licked their chops and went in for the kill - among them the Pink Panthers.<br /><br />It's not clear how many Panthers there are. Estimates go as high as several hundred, but it's probable not all are actual Pink Panthers; more likely, Pink Wannabes. Gang members tend to be highly trained, speak several languages, are comfortable with firearms and violence, and have exceptional attention to detail. In one instance, for example, the robbers painted a bench near a target, specifically to prevent people sitting on it and becoming witnesses to the soon-to-be-crime. <br /><br />Their method of operation is fairly straightforward. They send in a scout, always an attractive woman, whose job it is to thoroughly explore the target, marking any cameras and security devices. The group then hits the target as quickly and decisively as possible, going in and getting out in minimal time. They almost always use Audis as escape vehicles, because their drivers are very familiar with the type - again, attention to detail, avoiding unnecessary risks. They even went so far as to smuggle stolen Audis into Saudi Arabia, where high-performance luxury cars are much more common. However they are not married to their Audis; in Saint-Tropez they used speedboats to make their getaway.<br /><br />The loot is then given to a courier and brought back to Serbian brokers for re-cutting, and sale. The courier gets 5%, the broker something like 30 to 40% of the take, and the Panthers themselves get 15%. Their partners in Antwerp and elsewhere in Europe, who put the stolen loot back on the market, get the rest.<br /><br />In some cases, the diamonds are never sold; instead, they become currency. A boatload of cocaine can be bought with a pocketful of diamonds. Money transactions over a certain amount have to be declared, and cash can be traced, but diamonds have no <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVQ7UmWbizE">memory and no conscience</a>. <br /><br />For most of their career the Pink Panthers avoided violence. They preferred overwhelming force and quick entrance and exit; they might spray tear gas at cashiers, but never shoot. However in recent encounters the alleged Panthers have been considerably sloppier, by their standards, and in a recent confrontation in Greece, a policeman was shot. Over 150 Panthers have been captured and imprisoned over the years, and while some have been broken out of prison by their comrades, others are less fortunate; some, <a href="https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/crime/pink-panther-member-found-dead-in-dubai-jail">like an unfortunate held in a Saudi jail</a>, never leave prison alive.<br /><br />Even without this steady drain, the Panthers' days are numbered. Times have changed, and EU membership is on the table. That means the Panthers no longer have a safe haven in Montenegro or Serbia. The more experienced members, who made their fortunes long ago, can retire, and perhaps will, but the newer, less experienced recruits still want to make a killing - and they're the ones more likely to make a serious, perhaps fatal mistake.<br /><br />In <a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/nights-black-agents/">Night's Black Agents</a> terminology, what exactly is a Pink Panther? The archetype combines several different skill sets: investigator, black bagger, bang-and-burner, wheel artist. I'd assign abilities as follows:<br /><br /><b>Investigative</b> -&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Intimidation 1, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Languages 1,&nbsp; Notice 1, Streetwise 1, Urban Survival 2. <i>Possible alternates</i>: Flatter, Flirting (for the female scouts), Architecture.</span><br /><b><br /></b><b>General</b> - Athletics 4, Conceal 2, Driving 4, Infiltration 2, Preparedness 4.&nbsp;<i>Possible alternates: </i>Disguise, Sense Trouble, Surveillance.<br /><br /><b>Special Driving Cherry</b> - <u>Audi Expert</u>. The Panther can get extra performance out of an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSUF7-xQHrA">Audi</a>, and for Thrilling Chase purposes has&nbsp;+1 Maneuver.<br /><br />That's it for this week! Enjoy.Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-66865889136874439302018-01-14T06:59:00.001-08:002018-01-14T06:59:59.110-08:00New Gamemaster Month - Trail of CthulhuI'm not directly involved with the <a href="https://newgamemastermonth.com/">New Gamemaster Month</a> program, but I thought it'd be fun to kibbitz and offer a little extra advice. The system is Trail of Cthulhu, and the sample adventure on offer is Midnight Sub Rosa, in which a group of investigators are sent to Rosa, Alabama to recover a diary written by necromancer Ezekiel de la Poer. If you want to download the scenario, I recommend you wander over to the New Gamemaster Month website where there is a download link.<br /><br />I'm going to start the discussion with a note on historical accuracy. Thursday's New Gamemaster post says that you "don't have to have every nook and cranny of the setting committed to memory, either - in fact, the setting is yours to craft, and elements you interpret differently than what's in print (on purpose or by accident) make the setting your own. That's a feature, not a bug." This is absolutely true, but some people may find it difficult to believe, because of the historical accuracy problem.<br /><br />Trail, like Call of Cthulhu and many similar titles, is set in a particular time period. This can cause novice Keepers, and players, concern. Sometimes this is because certain aspects of history are, at best, unsavory. The example scenario spends some time talking about race, a topic that's bound to come up in 1930s Alabama. However it just as often causes problems because people don't know enough history, and feel the lack. They get nervous that they're "doing it wrong," or worry that a particular technology might not have been available at the time. What does it mean for the scenario when a player says, "I turn on my flashlight," and someone else at the table says, "did they have flashlights back then?" <br /><br />First thing: don't panic. Confidence, as the Thursday update says, is the only secret sauce. If you, as Keeper, choose to rule thus-and-so, it doesn't matter if history contradicts you.<br /><br />Second thing: a little history can be very useful, and history's easily had.<br /><br />You don't have to bury yourself in textbooks. The game manual is your first stop, but there are other sources. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Everyday-Prohibition-Through-Guides/dp/0898796970">Writer's Guides</a> for pretty much every period you care to name are available at very reasonable rates, and because they're pitched to people in exactly your position - creators seeking background knowledge - they're very readable. I have a copy of the Writer's Guide to Everyday Life from Prohibition to World War II, which I see is going for silly money on Amazon, and while I wouldn't base my PhD on McCutcheon's work, it's certainly good enough for game night. It doesn't just give you timelines and dry facts; it has a list of slang terms, an essay on crime and a selection of cop slang, bits on transport, clothing, radio, music, dance, what people were reading, watching, talking about. If ever you want to add color to a scene, this is the kind of detail you need.<br /><br />For example: Death Valley Days is a radio show that started in 1930 and went on, in one form or another, until 1975. Some episodes are available <a href="https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/western/death-valley-days">online</a>. Nothing could be easier than to have that playing in the background; there are many apps that play old time radio, most of them for cheap or for nothing. Heck, even if you don't use these old shows as background noise, it's still worth listening to a couple, if only to steal characters to use as NPCs.<br /><br />However there's another way history can help: it can give the Keeper ideas. Lots and lots of juicy ideas, many of which can be data mined from Wikipedia.<br /><br />Consider the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_telephone">telephone</a>. By the 1930s they were common; Rosa, Alabama has a party line, according to the scene <i>Exploring Rosa</i>. The scenario notes that the house where most of the action takes place doesn't have much use for electricity, but there are telephone poles. The characters are presumably staying at the lodging house, which definitely has a telephone.<br /><br />Let's take a step back. What exactly is a telephone exchange? Well, when telephones were first used, they were single-function devices. You had a phone, it was connected by wire to another phone, and that was that. You could only call that one phone. If you wanted to make calls to other people, you had to install new telephones. This wasn't particularly useful, so someone came up with the idea of the exchange. Everyone's phone was connected to the exchange, and when you wanted to call someone you <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVDGuCjog_0">contacted the exchange and told them which telephone you wanted to connect to</a>. The operator then physically connected you with that phone. This system continued, in one form or another, until the 1960s, when automation replaced human operators. If you read old authors, like Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, or Dorothy Sayers, you'll notice that whenever a character picks up a phone they talk to the operator first, and say "connect me to [letter code] [number]," and after maybe a few seconds, there's a connection. The letter code identifies the exchange, the number, the telephone. Usually the number is anywhere from three to five digits long, depending on the likely number of subscribers. The smaller the catchment area, the smaller the number. The letter code is often turned into a word for easy memorization, as for example with Susquehanna 4 7568.<br /><br />That tells you, as Keeper, three things. First, that connecting with another phone is a lengthy process. You might have to wait a long time, perhaps several minutes, before you finally got to speak with the person on the other end. Second, that there is a human being, the exchange operator, between you and the other person - and the exchange operator can hear everything you say.<br /><br />Third, that the number of numbers is limited. Take a look at <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Susquehanna 4 7568, an</span> episode of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4dc4322F98">The Naked City</a>, a TV show that aired in the 1950s and early 1960s. The story kicks off when a young woman, new to NYC, gets a phone installed at her flat, only to discover that her number used to belong to someone else and she's getting his calls. Exchanges can only accommodate so many subscribers; eventually they have to re-use numbers. In The Naked City, the woman overhears a murder. In Cthulhu, the investigator might overhear almost anything. <br /><br />The Keeper can complicate this further. As Rosa is a rural community, it has a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony)">party line</a>. These are cheaper to run, and don't need an operator. In broad terms, everyone is connected to everyone else, on a loop system. The obvious problem being that there is no privacy on the party line; everyone gets to listen in, not just one operator. Moreover a user can monopolize the line, preventing anyone else from making calls, and this can happen by accident, when someone doesn't properly disconnect after a call. Party lines were still a thing even as late as the 1980s; it wasn't until people started using phone lines for other things, like answering machines and computer modems, that they finally died out. Stephen King, for example, references party lines in his fiction more than once.<br /><br />The scenario says that the party line only connects three locations, but as Keeper you should feel free to modify a scenario to suit your needs. Remember, it's a feature, not a bug. If you want that party line to connect to other places, you can. Probably not very many other places, since, as written, Rosa is dirt poor. However a couple of the outlying farms could also have telephones, and there's no reason the Derby House shouldn't also be on the party line. It may even be that someone's illicitly connected; after all, it's not as if anyone's marching up and down the line looking for extra connections. This may come in handy if the Keeper intends to run any of the additional material provided with the scenario.<br /><br />There are two plot-related points to make here.<br /><br />First, the party line is an excellent way to provide clues, particularly via <b>Oral History</b>. People talk. Often they can't help themselves; they give away secrets and gossip in equal measures. Just listening in can provide an investigator with all kinds of dirt. Imagine what might happen if the investigators catch Sheriff Barnes on the line, discussing the situation with the state police, or listen to some of the citizens of Rosa dishing dirt on people's families and less-than-reputable pasts. "Of course, nothing good ever came from <i>that</i> side of the family. Why, my <i>dear</i>, didn't you know ..."<br /><br />Second, if the investigators use the telephone, they have no way to ensure their conversation is confidential. It's wiser to assume someone's listening. Or something. After all, there's that o-so-intriguing section about Ghoul Changelings; imagine what might happen if one of those was listening in on an investigator's call for help.<br /><br />But perhaps the most significant non-plot-related point to make is that a party line can add a lot of color to an otherwise drab setting. <a href="https://gizmodo.com/barbed-wire-fences-were-an-early-diy-telephone-network-1493157700">Gizmodo</a> makes a similar point, when talking about barbed wire lines. People used to live their lives on these connections. They'd play music, talk about local politics or sports, read newspapers to each other, recite the weather report, pass on important news or alerts to the group. In many ways the phone lines acted in the same way a forum post does today; it passes on group messages, and alerts the group to important information. It adds that extra bit of vibrancy to a location if the Keeper bothers to add a few bits on non-plot related bits to a party line call. "Missus Sullivan's dog's missing? Better let the boys know, they might see 'er out in the long pasture. Gantry's sow dropped a litter of six last night, says he'll be selling off the weaners in a week or so, you want in on this you better go see old man Gantry afore they all leave the nest..."<br /><br />So, going back to the original point: just by knowing a bit of history, in this case about the telephone, the Keeper can insert clues, link to scenes (even Antagonist reaction scenes), and provide enough color to make the setting come alive. None of this requires specialist knowledge; you can data mine from Wikipedia and similar sources to get everything you need.<br /><br />So why the telephone? Why not? Everything has a history. Cars, nightclubs, public transport, trains, newspapers, factories and diners and a thousand things besides. You don't need to be an expert. You just need to ask yourself, "is there anything useful here?" Nine times out of ten, the answer's yes. Seek it out, and use it.<br /><br />To all new Keepers and Game Masters, welcome to the hobby! I hope you enjoy yourselves.<br /><br /><br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-86011589557845262382018-01-07T11:57:00.000-08:002018-01-07T11:57:53.601-08:00Satellites Gang Aft Agley - Vostochny (Night's Black Agents)Welcome back!<br /><br />Let's start the year with a quick look back at a news story that some of you may have picked up on, in the dying days of 2017, and see what can be done to gamify it. In late 2017 Russia announced that one of its rockets went off on a merry jaunt, taking with it a payload of 18 satellites belonging to research and commercial enterprises from the US, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Norway and, of course, Russia. So why did this unfortunate incident occur? Because someone boobed, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/28/russian-satellite-lost-wrong-spaceport-meteor-m">programmed the launch device with the wrong coordinates</a>. The Meteor-M rocket thought it was departing from Baikonur cosmodrome, when in fact its departure point was Vostochny. <br /><br />The rocket tried to correct, but didn't have time to adjust course, and by the time it passed the crisis point it was aiming back at Earth. Meteor-M's payload ended up in the Atlantic. Among the lost payload were several satellites designed to boost broadband capability for remote locations, planes, and ships, a Japanese satellite designed to monitor space junk in low Earth orbit, maritime communications satellites, and a Russian student-built microsatellite.<br /><br />This is the second launch from Vostochny. The first went almost without a hitch back in April, barring a slight launch delay, but Russia's track record with satellite launches is lamentable. 2003 is the last year it managed to go twelve months without at least a partial launch failure.<br /><br />Vostochny is Russia's only domestic cosmodrome, built at fantastic expense in Russia's Far East. It's intended to reduce Russia's dependence on&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Baikonur, which is in <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2017/11/quick-and-dirty-almaty-kazakhstan.html">Kazakhstan</a>. Russia pays $115 million yearly rent for use of the Baikonur cosmodrome, and it hopes that the civilian satellite launch market will beat a path to its door if it can get Vostochny working properly.&nbsp;</span><br /><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Russia may or may not be moving in the right direction. Currently, even with its not-so-great track record, it has something like half the market. However it has competition, and its competitors are more reliable and less expensive. In years to come Russia may find itself cut out of the market, and this gets more likely with each launch failure. Satellites are expensive assets; no doubt Russia's clients are looking at those 18 drowned payloads and thinking, do I really want to trust my umpteen-hundred-thousand dollar telecom satellite, and the future business it's supposed to generate, to this bunch of clowns?</span><br /><br />Using the <a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2017/05/playing-with-real-toys-halles-saint.html">Playing with Real Toys</a> format, let's provide a description, Thrilling Elements and a short scene for <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="https://www.roscosmos.ru/">Vostochny cosmodrome</a>.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IQgtkkD4X4I/Wk-6RZI-LfI/AAAAAAAAAIc/LndKhju7PaUb35Nq3vljlPgeVU1W361ZQCLcBGAs/s1600/rocket.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="973" height="129" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IQgtkkD4X4I/Wk-6RZI-LfI/AAAAAAAAAIc/LndKhju7PaUb35Nq3vljlPgeVU1W361ZQCLcBGAs/s320/rocket.png" width="320" /></a></div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Image taken from Roscosmos</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Vostochny is in Amur Oblast, southeast Russia, a mountainous area with many rivers and alpine tundra. It has been under construction for some time, and final completion is scheduled for 2018. Two launches have already taken place, the second of which was a dismal failure that resulted in the loss of the payload in the Atlantic.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">It is at the watershed of the Zeya and Bolshaya Pyora rivers, and is nearest to the closed town of Tsiolkovsky, originally built in 1961 to service a nearby ICBM installation. Closed means that travel to and through is not permitted without authorization, and the entire area should be considered minimum Heat 2, not Heat 1, for purposes of tracking agents' Heat levels.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">It has good links with nearby highways and railroads, and has an abundance of power, as Amur Oblast is well supplied with hydroelectric plants. The cosmodrome will also have its own small town, when it is finished, and seven launch pads, including two for crewed flights. According to <a href="http://en.roscosmos.ru/255/">Roscosmos</a>, when complete Vostochny will provide up to 80,000 new jobs, either at the cosmodrome itself or at one of the satellite towns &amp; train station.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>Construction has been plagued with problems, and workers have protested or gone on strike several times over unpaid wages and other issues. Corruption has been alleged, and the project hemorrhages money; at an estimated price of $7.5 billion, it is easily the most expensive installation of its kind in the world.<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Thrilling Elements include:</span></span><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">A government official or potential customer is being given the grand tour, surrounded by a flock of lackeys, bodyguards and cosmodrome bigwigs.</span></span></li><li>Heavy equipment and expensive satellite payloads move slowly past, towed or carried by complex-seeming loaders.</li><li>The mobile service tower, all 1,600 tons of it, ponderously moves towards the launch pad, with its expensive and delicate rocket inside.</li><li>Cosmodrome security conduct a sweep, demanding all nearby produce their official identification.</li><li>Scientists and officials argue over the meaning of the latest test results, hushing whenever anyone not connected with their project goes within listening distance.</li><li>The Fuel Service Unit is a constant hive of activity, with supply trucks and rockets coming and going.</li><li>&nbsp;Disgruntled workers form an ad-hoc protest. If any of the agents are obviously non-Russian, cosmodrome security and officials will immediately attempt to remove the agents, or at least block their view / confiscate anything that can be used to record or take pictures.</li><li>The cosmodrome is visited by Vladimir Putin, or someone of similar importance. The number of attendant lackeys, bodyguards and bigwigs doubles, at least, and base Heat increases to 3.</li></ul><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b>Scene:</b><i> Unauthorized Access</i></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The agents become aware, through their own sources, that a Conspiracy Node has penetrated <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Tsiolkovsky, and a cell of three to five Conspiracy agents are operating there for reasons unknown. The exact nature of this cell is up to the Director. For the purpose of this example, using <a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/the-zalozhniy-quartet/">The Zalozhniy Quartet</a> as a reference, the Node is a Lisky Brava outpost, and at least three of the agents on the ground are known members of the mafiya led by an Operative who can work with others, like the Girl or the Con Artists. The Mafiya agents ought to be Thug Boss leader at a minimum; this isn't an operation for amateurs. The remaining two are experts, chosen for their ability rather than their combat stats. The mafiya members of the cell work at the Ledyanaya Railway Station, while the cell leader is a minor official in charge of the sports complex. The town itself is basically a shell; it has residential buildings, schools, a hospital, the railway, the sports complex, and not much else. There's been a recent spike in crime thanks to the influx of workers to build the town; the maifya cell members may be taking advantage of this to smuggle items, like narcotics or DVDs, which can be easily transported and have a good resale value, especially to bored townies.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The cell's job is to infiltrate the cosmodrome and interfere with the launch of a satellite, six months from now. The plan at the moment is to re-rig the launch device with the wrong set of launch coordinates, so the rocket goes off-course. That's why the cell needs the two experts. As to why the cell needs to do this, that's up to the Director, but possibilities include:</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The rocket's payload includes a satellite bought and paid for by an important enemy of the Conspiracy.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The rocket's payload includes a satellite bought and paid for by someone the mafiya has been extorting or blackmailing, but who recently developed a backbone. The loss of the satellite is supposed to bring the recalcitrant to heel.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The new coordinates will drop the rocket, expensive payload and all, on something the Conspiracy would very much like destroyed. This may or may not be a target sufficiently important to spark off World War Three.</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">That's it for now! Happy New Year! </span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot;; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><b></b></span><i><br /></i></div><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-60699727584743759042017-12-24T10:54:00.000-08:002017-12-24T10:55:48.092-08:00The Vault (2017, dir Dan Bush)This is going to be the last post for the year, and I want to round off 2017 by taking a failed idea and playing with it: The Vault, a recent horror release. A desperate band of robbers try to take millions from what ought to be an easy target, only to discover that this vault is the last one they ought to have broken into.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qIjH9sPYkcs/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qIjH9sPYkcs?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br /><br />It's not good. It's not truly awful either, though that's mainly down to the three leads. Taryn Manning's good as the crazed, strung-out robber, Francesca Eastwood keeps the plot moving forward as the clued-in, grounded one, and James Franco as the bank manager with a secret is the rock holding all this together.<br /><br />There are several problems here. The first is the plot, which is bloody awful from about the midway point onwards. If you can't guess what's going to happen next, you haven't seen many horror films since, say, 1970. It explains too much, which is a ridiculous mistake to make. Even the music conspires against it, being the same collection of bland, obvious TA-DAAH! horror stings you can buy for $0.99 from a sound effects collection.&nbsp; The only standout is Crimson and Clover, a 1968 single, and I couldn't tell you why it's there. <br /><br />Well, maybe I can. While looking up this song's Wiki entry I notice that it's also featured on the Bates Motel series, Sons of Anarchy, In Plain Sight, crime drama Blood Ties (which went to Cannes), and a few other 2000-era film &amp; television references. I suspect it's become one of those go-to songs that sound editors desperate for something vaguely spooky and evocative reach for. I'm guessing it's cheap, too.<br /><br />I fell asleep sporadically for the last 40-odd minutes of the film, which meant I stopped keeping track of who was doing what to whom - not that it mattered much. It was obvious who was going to live to see the final reel and who was not.<br /><br />I knew absolutely nothing about this film before deciding to see it, not even the trailer. However the puff line accompanying the Netflix entry reminded me of a much better film, R-Point, a K-horror war movie in which an army unit is sent to rescue a group of soldiers lost behind enemy lines, only to find that very little is as it seems.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9w1f0noK18s/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9w1f0noK18s?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br />It's the phone message that caught me. R-Point starts when the Korean top brass hears a radio SOS, from soldiers who've been dead for months - or are they? Whereas in The Vault everything goes to hell for the robbers when someone calls the police, again and again and again - but who is it?<br /><br />Kim Newman, in his review for <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/vault/review/">Empire</a>, says that The Vault is '<i>too timid to go all-out weird</i>,' which definitely is not R-Point's problem. That one's weird almost from the get-go. If you're looking for a horror film to round out your year, R-Point is the one I'd heartily recommend.<br /><br />However I started this by saying I wanted to play with The Vault, so with that in mind, let's start playing. Assume this is a one-shot, say for <a href="http://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/fear-itself/">Fear Itself</a>. What happens next?<br /><br />There are some things The Vault gets very right. One is anchoring the nasty in a particular mismatched time period, in this case the 1980s. There aren't many 2017-period tags until about ten minutes in, and everything looked suitably pastel and old-fashioned, so at the start I was almost convinced the film was set in the 1980s. That allows a Keeper to start laying pipe with period-specific material. If ever you're going to use music in the background, now's the time. If the session is set in the 2000s, the players are going to get freaked if all they get on the radio or TV is period material. You can swipe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTDE4oILxc0">old radio stings</a> and other audio from YouTube and similar places, but the key here is to keep it subtle at first, with something that might not be noticed - like one of those radio stings. Then hit them with something obviously out of place later.<br /><br />The players, in a one-off, can be a mix of robbers and hostages. This is one of those hotbeds of suspicion concepts that's crying out for a Trust mechanic of some kind, which is the one thing Fear Itself lacks, but it shouldn't be difficult to import one from another source - say, Night's Black Agents.<br /><br />In R-Point, one of the earliest scares comes when the platoon takes a photo of the group early on, only to discover later that one of the people in that photo wasn't really there at all. That's what you should be aiming for with this scenario seed. Imagine what it would be like to go into the vault with a five-person crew, only to discover later that there were only four of you all along. At least one of the team ought to be on the Enemy's side, but what that means exactly is up to the Keeper. Has this person been suborned, or were they always this way?<br /><br />With all that in mind, let's have a scenario seed:<br /><br />This bank is being robbed. Armed thieves have locked the place down, taken the customers and tellers hostage, and are making their way to the vault. Except there isn't any money there, and the cops are closing in ...<br /><br />1) The Bank never existed in the first place. There was a Bank in that location back in 1983, but during a botched robbery someone set off an explosion that took out everyone inside, and the building's been vacant ever since. Only the most desperate homeless live in that eerie, bombed-out structure. The robbers are from out of town, which is why they don't know that - or at least, most of them don't know that, though their man on the inside might. Once inside, the robbers can't leave; the only way out is through the vault, but it's anyone's guess as to where that door leads.<br /><br />2) The Bank's vault safeguards something incredibly dangerous, like the Devil, or impossibly valuable, like a jar with someone's soul in it. One of the robbers knows this, and has persuaded the others to help him get in there. What the other robbers and bank staff don't appreciate is, the closer the robbers get to their goal, the more elaborate and deadly the defenses become. Doors become hungry mouths, electrical cords reach out and strangle, and the wall of Most Valuable Employee pictures just gets longer and longer with each death.<br /><br />3) The security cameras see everything, everywhere, and record every move. Some of the footage is from the 1980s, some from the 1990s, some from the 2000s - but that doesn't matter. Some is from a bank in San Francisco, some from San Antonio, and some from Paris, France - but that doesn't matter. This is an amalgam of robberies, faithfully recorded by all the cameras, and the feed is playing into the Security Room, where it's all spliced together. Who is in that room? Why are these five robbers and a handful of customers and tellers trapped here, and how will it end?<br /><br />That's it for 2017. See you soon!Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-72948300910444867662017-12-17T10:58:00.000-08:002017-12-17T11:00:02.118-08:00The Foreigner (2017, director Martin Campbell)<a href="http://karloff-shelf.blogspot.com/2016/06/secure-correspondence-nights-black.html">Stephen Leather</a>'s a damn good writer, and when I noticed a film based on his 1992 thriller <a href="http://stephenleather.com/index.php?page=the-chinaman">The Chinaman</a> was due for release in 2017, I made it my business to seek it out. So on the same weekend as a certain Jedi-related movie's debut, I was curled up with The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan and Katie Leung, among others.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/om9YCk7ufHs/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/om9YCk7ufHs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />Frankly, I was amazed.<br /><br />It's a fairly strong, if simple plot. You come in thinking this is a revenge story, and it is. Chan's humble but determined Quan, a London restauranteur who lost his daughter in an IRA bombing, wants the names of the bombers. He doesn't care about anything else; the politics of the situation are meaningless to him. He just wants to get to the people who hurt his family, a motive anyone can understand and empathize with. <br /><br />The sticky layers of complication become apparent when Quan crosses the water to Ireland, and meets Brosnan's Liam Hennessy, Irish deputy minister and former terrorist who's been mucking about in dodgy dealing for his own political ends. He wants pardons for former IRA people now in UK custody, because if he's seen to be the man who secured those pardons then his political future is assured. He has a plan to leverage the UK government's assistance, but this scheme is swiftly hijacked, and before long he's battling to stay afloat in treacherous political waters. Quan's arrival doesn't make things easier for him; just when he needs to be in political action, he has to hide in his farmhouse to avoid Quan's deadly bomb attacks. Pressure mounts. He can't afford to be distracted, but Quan dogs his heels every step of the way, with one and only one demand: give me the names of the bombers. <br /><br />For those Night's Black Agents aficionados out there wondering what kind of game this is, it's Dust, all the way. Treachery hangs over the plot like a thundercloud, before the storm breaks with a crack and a bang. The novel was written in 1992, so I was prepared for a few plot-related creaks and groans; after all, more than twenty years have passed. Technology, and politics, have changed. However there was nothing about the plot I could fault for its realism, or tactics. The combat and action scenes are well-paced and serve the plot, as opposed to being never-ending vehicles for glamor shots. The firefights are exactly the kind of pyrotechnic madhouse you'd expect from an actual gun battle, as opposed to the blood-soaked heroism of, say, a Stallone or Schwarzenegger film. <br /><br />Moreover it's a revelation to see Jackie Chan, of all people, play against type. He's usually the happy-go-lucky indestructible warrior. You know he's broken every single bone in his body, and yet he always comes out smiling. Not this time. You believe he is that damaged sexagenarian, short of breath, devoid of hope, who just wants one thing: revenge. There's one moment when Chan has to perform emergency surgery on himself after being shot, and to be honest I wasn't sure whether the scarred torso was Chan's or his character's. If any actor working today might actually have a body as marred as that in real life, it's Jackie Chan.<br /><br />This film's been compared, unfairly in my opinion, to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoKGNch3Uto">Taken</a> series, because revenge is the motivating factor in each case. Frankly, I'm not seeing it, and Chan's the reason why. He's not an action hero. Liam Neeson is. You never really believe Neeson is under any threat in the Taken films; he's the good guy, they're the bad guys, and we all know who wins in that situation. <br /><br />But Jackie Chan isn't the good guy here. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find an actual action hero good guy in this film. Everyone lies, betrays, tortures, kills to get what they want, the British government as well as the Irish terrorists. Quan's the least morally complicated character in the film, but that's because he doesn't want much. He doesn't have Hennessy's ambition or some cause to follow. His needs are simple, and his anger terrible to behold. &nbsp; <br /><br />I'd recommend this film to anyone who enjoys espionage thrillers, and in particular to players and Directors contemplating another trip into Night's Black Agents territory. Perhaps after supporting a certain <a href="http://beyondthebundle.com/2017-12-04/dracula-dossier/">Dracula Dossier Humble Bundle</a>? You won't be disappointed.Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7694683694498985393.post-70720141686565859422017-12-14T05:33:00.000-08:002017-12-14T05:34:00.215-08:00Patreon Charges & KingshoweI think there's crossover between this blog and my <a href="https://www.patreon.com/user/posts?u=761734">Patreon</a>, so I'm going to post this message here as well as there.<br /><br />If you weren't already in the loop, I publish short fiction and RPG material at a Patreon once a month. The series I've been working on is an English folk horror series, Kingshowe, set in the 1920s in a new build suburb not far from London. I've been posting the Patreon for close to two years, but I've only been working on Kingshowe for a year.<br /><br />The message is as follows:<br /><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="aishr" data-offset-key="ns5m-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="ns5m-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span data-offset-key="ns5m-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">I thought I would have to cancel this Patreon. As you're aware by now, Patreon was about to make changes to its charge system that would have made small donations, like the $1 and $2 you send my way, unfeasible. I wouldn't blame you if you all left.</span></blockquote><span data-offset-key="ns5m-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="aishr" data-offset-key="73odh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="73odh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span data-offset-key="73odh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">However Patreon changed its mind. The new charge system will not be implemented, which means small donations are still viable. That's good to hear.</span></blockquote><span data-offset-key="73odh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="aishr" data-offset-key="forvd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="forvd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span data-offset-key="forvd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">That said, it's time to bring the Kingshowe series to a close. I started Kingshowe to see if I could carry through on a single theme, creating a series as opposed to individual stories. I could, and did, for a full year. I may return to Kingshowe in future installments, but for the moment I consider the experiment successfully concluded.</span></blockquote><span data-offset-key="forvd-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="aishr" data-offset-key="d3lg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="d3lg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span data-offset-key="d3lg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">With that in mind, the next episode will feature the start of the novel I'm currently working on: Witches' Brew. </span></blockquote><span data-offset-key="d3lg-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-block="true" data-editor="aishr" data-offset-key="1h42t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="1h42t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span data-offset-key="1h42t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">See you soon!</span></blockquote><span data-offset-key="1h42t-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: static; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Karloffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07740627776272488925noreply@blogger.com0